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HOME STUDY COURSE 



OF 



MOTHER'S 

KINDERGARTEN 

SCHOOL 



By IRENE MYERS 



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IN SEVENTEEN LESSONS 



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Copyright 1914 

By MOTHER'S KINDERGARTEN SCHOOL 

Kansas City, Mo. 



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■©CI:A3 74 9 4f) 

JUL 27 1914 



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PART I 



LESSONS I AND II 



of 



Home Study Course 



of 



Mothers Kindergarten School 



CopjTight 1914 

MOTHERS KINDERGARTEN SCHOOL 
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI 



LESSON I. 



FROEBEUS GIFTS. 



Dear Friend: 

I received your message, and you may judge by my quick reply 
how interested I am in the subject about which you asked so many 
questions, namely, the Kindergarten gifts and their value. It is 
very unfortunate that you have never seen them; have never felt 
the wonderful possibilities they contained when you opened them, 
not only the first time, but every time ; nor felt a deep-rooted passion 
to make something and to continue making something until your 
energies were exhausted. But you will wonder what these remark- 
able little things are, to be able to create such feelings, and I will 
endeavor to tell you, at the same time answering, to the best of my 
ability, your several questions. 

There are thirteen gifts in all, but I am only going to tell you 
about the first six, because five of them are building gifts, and that 
is what your child wants most of all. 

FIRST GIFT. 

It consists of six balls, each a little over 2 inches in diameter. 
Each ball is covered with yarn, each a different color, and only one 
color for a ball; the 8-inch strand extending from the top being the 
same color. As they are rubber, filled with air, and covered with 
yarn, they are soft and fit nicely in the hand. The colors of the 
spectrum only are used, and you may imagine the efi^ect on a 3- 
months-old baby when one of these bright colored balls is swung 
around or dangled in mid-air within his range of vision. Can you 
not just h'jar his little cackle and see the pleasure expressed by the 
kicking of his short legs, the energetic reaching with his tiny arms, 
and the excited, delighted look on his face? 

Can you imagine anything but this first gift which can so- 
effectively arouse in the child's mind the feeling of consciousness 
of a world of individual things and of its own dawning individuality? 

When you first look at this gift I doubt if you will be able to 
resist the temptation to dangle eath :ball in mid-air, or to grasp it 
in your hand, and I am sure you*. will not be able to look at the 
second gift without stopping to contemplate the world of knowledge 
this first one contains. 

By it he learns up and down, backward and forward, around 



and around. By playing with it several movements of control are 
brought into action, namely, grasping, bouncing, rolling, tossing and 
squeezing. Color also plays a prominent part, for it has the power 
to arouse interest in the child, and so its educational value is very 
great. 

SECOND GIFT. 

I shall never forget the many things which flashed into my 
mind the first time I pulled the lid off of the box containing the 
second gift. I saw oranges, apples, peaches, croquet balls and 
marbles in the sphere; I saw loaves of bread, blocks of ice, cakes 
and numerous other things in the cube; I saw bottles of milk, 
churns, and jars of fruit in the cylinder, and when I discovered the 
holes in them and found sticks in the box which would fit, my joy 
knew no limit. I thought that surely the resources could never 
become exhausted. 

This sphere, cube and cylinder are made of wood, and conse- 
quently are solid and hard. The sphere is a round, smooth ball 
about 2 inches in diameter. The cylinder is about 2 inches long 
and 11/^ inches thick, with a plain surface at each end. There is a 
small opening in the center of one end extending to the center of 
the opposite end, through which a stick about the size of a match 
or toothpick might be run. The cube is 2 inches thick, 2 inches long 
and 2 inches high. It also has a small hole on two opposite sides 
(in the center of each), so that a stick may be placed through the 
cube. 

These three, namely, the sphere, cube and cylinder, come in an 
oblong box about 8 inches by 3, with a lid which slides off. At 
each end of this box, on the inside, is a piece of wood about % of 
an inch thick, and not quite as high or wide as the box to which 
it is glued. On the top side of each of these pieces of wood, and in 
the center, a round hole about % of an inch in diameter is bored, 
into which may be placed sticks about 8 inches long, found also in 
the box. 

Besides the ball, sphere, cube and two round sticks, this box 
contains another stick (more like a slat). It is % inch wide, 14 
inch thick and 8 inches long, with a, hole on one of the broad sides, 
at each end, into which the two round sticks may be placed and 
these placed in the box. 

Really, Bernice, I feel as though your education had been 
neglected, and you have such a dear little girl with whom you 
could make it so practicable — but I must tell you more of this 
second gift. 

It seems to be a step forw^ard from the colored balls, for it 
teaches the child more shapes, and shape, someone has said, "is the 
formal key to the study and control of an external world." 

Also with these, hardness and softness are contrasted, and the 
first step in construction is taken, for it does not take the child long 
to place one on top of the other. The second step with this gift is 
placing the stick through the holes in the center and discovering that 
the ball will roll ; that is, if the stick is placed from one end through 
the center to the other end, and that the cylinder will roll also. 



A child who has passed the difficulty of making his hands do 
as he wishes enjoys making machine toys immensely, because it 
calls forth his skill, and this gift is especially adapted to that pur- 
pose. It will make steam shovels and derricks^ and several other 
things, with the help of a little string and perhaps a wire hairpin 
or two. I am sure, though, that Helen has not reached the age 
for this. 

THIRD GIFT. 

The third gift did not possess such charms for me as the other 
two. I remember a puzzled feeling when I saw that so many small 
cubes would make a big one. I could not understand why, but 
after playing with it and putting it in the box a number of times, 
I began to realize it was a fact, to me an unexplainable one, so I 
ceased to wonder. However, I think it was a great step to learn 
that all these many little cubes could only be placed one way to 
make a big one. 

Pardon me, Bernice, I forgot that you do not know what the 
third gift is, and I am afraid that what I have just said about it 
is rather incomprehensible to you. It is a cube divided into eight 
smaller cubes of equal size, each an inch by an inch by an inch. 
These smaller cubes are just like the cube in the second gift, only 
smaller, and the holes and wire eyes are missing. They are placed 
in a square box, to impress upon the child's mind the similarity. 

This gift is of great value to the teacher, for it enables her to 
give the first step in division, to give lessons in similarity and 
comparison, and to give an advance lesson in construction, for the 
child quickly learns to stack the blocks in various ways. 

The mental value of this gift, I think, is perhaps the greatest 
point in its favor, although the physical value is also of much im- 
portance. The first habits of accuracy are formed with this gift, 
for the child would be apt to put the blocks in the box any way 
they would go, but he is taught that he must put them in only one 
way, for that is the only way they will fit. 

The third gift means organic construction, and if you will first 
let your baby have free play with it, and then organize it, I 
believe you will be most pleased with the result. Aim at expanding 
when you organize by building on her ideas. 

FOURTH GIFT. 

The fourth gift is another division of the cube, this time into 
eight oblongs, each 2 inches long, 1 inch wide and a half inch thick. 
When stacked together it suggests the cube, and the appearance of 
the last gift when it was stacked together. What nice sidewalks 
these oblongs will make! What lovely sleds to slide down a tobog- 
gan! What a smooth street for autos to glide over! Such a cute 
little fence to enclose a garden! And, Oh, what a barnyard they 
would make! My! I could not wait to get my hand on them whem 
my mother showed them to me the first time, and I have that same 
irresistible impulse now when I see them. 

Let me suggest, Bernice, that here with this gift is a very 



good opportunity for a numiber lesson, and you know ''number and 
size have a special interest, inasmuch as they constitute the chief 
bridges in transition of the mind from outer space to inner time." 

But you must be careful how you would give your lesson; the 
child should be unconscious of your object. Take for example two 
piles of oblongs, four in a pile, stacking them broad side against 
broad side. Now put these two piles close together and they make 
a cube. Take off two top front ones and you have a seat: place 
them on, to front of bottom of cube and you have a bed, and so 
forth. This does not sound very interesting, does it? But to the 
child it is great fun for awhile, and he is unconsciously learning. 

Just give this lesson to your little Helen when you think the 
opportune time has arrived, and you will see how quick she learns. 

The mental value of this gift consists in the material which 
it affords for another step in construction, comparison and division. 
The physical value is greater than in any of the other gifts which 
have been mentioned, for when the teacher gives dictation, as in the 
example above, the child must concentrate all the physical and 
mental power he has, in attention and in making his little hands do 
what his mind tells them to do, in a precise and quick way. 

These last two gifts depend a very great deal on the tempera- 
ment of the child, and so I could not tell you at just the age they 
are best suited. 

The fifth and sixth gifts are usually taken together, but as you 
have never seen them, I will first describe the fifth, which is con- 
tained in a square box, the same size as the third and fourth gift. 

FIFTH GIFT. 

i Upon opening the fifth gift you will find nine cubes, each an 
inch by an inch by an inch; three more of the same size cubes 
divided into six isosceles triangular prisms, and three more divided 
into twelve smaller isosceles triangular prisms. 

You have no idea what lovely slanting roofs these triangular 
prisms will make, and the greenhouses, school-houses, farm houses 
railway stations, business blocks, stores, barns and churches are 
unlimited in style and variety. It sounds very interesting, does it 
not? And it surely is. 

You can readily see the mental development which this gift 
offers, for the child will have to observe very closely before he can 
represent just what he wishes to with the blocks. Considerable 
physical control comes in when you give the sequence play, for the 
child must give attention, must move quickly and correctly, and 
must think, hence concentration, comparative reflection, expansion 
and outgoing are the chief values to be derived from this gift. 

I think children find this gift more interesting than the other 
four because it enables them to make more real looking houses and 
barns, and things which they see every day, as their homes and 
school. 

The sequence play in material and thought can be carried out 
better with this gift than with the other, for there are so many 
similar shapes, as houses, barns, and so forth. 

If you would like me to send you a good sequence play with 



this gift, I would be very glad to do it, or if there are any games 
I could send, or any suggestions I might make which would help 
you, I would be very pleased to make them, but this gift "speaks 
for itself." You have but to open it, and the^ strong motive for 
play which you are inclined to think has long been dormant will 
give you the irresistible tendency to make a house. 

It is at the age of 4 or 5 years that this gift is of the most 
interest and value. For at this age the child has a strong tendency 
to compare and combine various sorts of images and has a strong 
demand for filling out each image, hence you may expect his con- 
struction to be more advanced. This is the gift to give children at 
the destructive age, when they want to tear or pull things apart. 

SIXTH GIFT. 

The last gift I will tell you about today is the sixth. It is 
interesting from the outside as well as from the inside, for it is 
contained in an oblong box about 6V2 inches wide, the top of 
which is covered wih a lid which slides back and forth. Upon 
emptying the contents upon the table you will find eighteen oblong 
tablets 2 inches long, 1 inch wide and 1/2 inch thick; twelve 
square tiles 1 inch wide, 1 inch long and 1/2 ii^ch thick; and six 
rectangular columns 2 inches long, V2 i^ch wide and V2 inch thick. 

When I saw them lying before me, the first thing that entered 
my mind was, ''What nice steps they will make." Next came the 
idea of making a park or playground, for the columns would make 
such splendid swings and seats. 

When a child is ready for this gift his image is usually more 
topical in character, and he is more able to adopt suggestions 
without friction with his own ideas. He shows a greater interest 
in making things for a result, and in his own little mind there is 
nothing too great for him to do, and which he is not just going 
to do. ^ 

The fifth and sixth gifts work very nicely together, but limit 
the kind, size and number you give your child, otherwise she may 
become confused and excited. A limit will develop her, but . too 
much will hamper her development. 

To conclude, I would say of all the gifts take the natural, 
instinctive, impulsive things children do, and make a lesson out of 
them. Follow the line of least resistance, providing the child 
knows what to do, and avoid telling him what to do as much as 
possible, for insofar as you tell a child to do things, you limit his 
power of developing and hinder him in his own expression. 

The business of life is adaptation to surroundings, to nature, 
to the universe. This implies knowledge and control of self and 
surroundings. The business of education is to lead the child on 
the surest and shortest road to this adaptation, and therefore it 
should see that the senses be properly interpreted and appreciated 
by the mind, and that the tongue and hands represent properly 
the mind. 

The mind should learn to rely implicitly upon its powers to 
see, say and do. This is possible only if head and hand are 



• 



trained simultaneously and in unison with each other, and for this 
purpose there is nothing better than the Kindergarten gifts. They 
not only train the child's head and hand together, but they give 
him a new cosmos; they invite arranging, controlling, transform- 
ing and creating activities; they lead toward instruction, discov- 
ery and invention, and last but not least, they give insight. 

Hoping that this letter has answered satisfactorily all of 
your questions, and wishing you every success with these gifts, I 
remain, Yours sincerely. 

Hazel Irene Myers. 

THIRD GIFT, GROUP PLAYS. 

— 1— 

Have one of the children at the end of the table make a church 
out of the big cubes. Then have every other child make a horse and 
carriage out of his cube. Use the little 2d gift beads for people 
sitting in the carriage and let them push them along to church. 
A church at one end and another one at the other end would be 
better, for then they could pass each other keeping on the right 
side of the street. 



Have a circus parade and let each child make the kind of 
wagon he wishes, putting in as many animals (beads) as he v/ishes 
and naming them. Make a sort of tent out of the blocks (large 
ones) and after the parade has gone the length of the table and 
back, each child pushing his own, have it go to the tent. 

SEQUENCE PLAYS, 

—1— 

V 

Make a hospital out of the big blocks; each child make an 
ambulance out of his cubes; put a man (small bead) in ambulance 
and take him to hospital. In hospital have little- beds made from 
four of the smaller beads. Take man out of ambulance and lie him 
on the bed. Now the ambulance is an automobile and some one 
is hurrying after doctor; doctor gets in and goes back to hospital; 
sits beside sick man awhile then leaves; sick man gets well and is 
taken home in carriage by his wife and children. 

— 2— 

Play kindergarten. Make long tables out of the cubes and sit 
little chairs (cubes) up to them. Use small beads for children; have 
them all march in and sit around table ; each child has his own table 
and has about 5 children (beads to handle). Child then makes 
different things out of cubes ; the tables were made while his kinder- 
garten children sit in a small circle and watch him. 
; When he can think of nothing more to show them how to make 
they all go home in a big wagon which comes for them, drawn by 
one of the children, and he puts the blocks back in the box like the 
teacher does. 



8 
FOURTH GIFT, GROUP PLAY. 

Use these oblong blocks for sleds. Make a big toboggan and let 
each child take a turn in sliding his sled down the toboggan. 

Make a long walk or street out of this gift, then make an 
automobile out of 3d gift and let each child push his ''auto" along 
on the street. 

SEQUENCE PLAY. 

Make street car out of cubes and go down town, having little 
beads for passengers. Make front of shoe store out of cubes, make 
counter and two seats opposite each other; have oblong blocks for 
shoe boxes ; clerk shows customer several, of which he buys two, and 
takes train (made out of cubes) home. 

FOR LEARNING NUMBER. 

Take two top front ones off and you have a seat; place them 
onto, bottom of cube, in front, and again you have a bed; take 
off two front top ones again and one back top one; place three in a 
row in lap of the one that was left in the cube and you have a stove 
with a stove pipe; place all back again into a cube, take off top 
half of cube, place half of it beside the bottom half, making six 
2 by 2 in an oblong, then place either two on top of center of this 
oblong and you have a basket. 

FORM PLAY. 

— 1— 

Use oblong block as a fence to enclose a garden; have beds 
marked off and using the little beads for vegetables, have onions, 
cabbages, potatoes, beets, and corn in the garden. 

Use same fence and have cows (of small beads) inside on the 
pasture; make their barn out of the cubes, and on one side have 
trough for them to drink out of. 

FIFTH GIFT, GROUP PLAY. 

The fifth gift consists of 27 small cubes an inch by an inch, 
which when placed in their cube like boxes make a large cube. 
Three of these cubes are divided into two large triangles and three 
other cubes are divided into 4 small triangles. 

Many interesting games may be played with this gift which 
just suits the constructive age in a child. 

It would be of interest to the children to build the school 
building of education in which their kindergarten is located. Then 
they could make the train which takes them to school and take 
them home again. Next, each one could build his own home and 
barn if he had one. 

After a trip to the park it would be fun to make a park, con- 



structing the different buildings they saw in the park. The swings, 
sea-saw, enclosed little lakes, and anything else they have remem- 
bered. 

They could make the furniture they have in certain rooms at 
home, the dining room for instance. Make the table and sit the 
chairs up to it. Some other good games to play would be to make 
barns, stables, little villages, post offices and conservatories. 

SEQUENCE PLAY. 

I have made a sequence play in both material and thought, 
having a series involving into another without changing the position 
of any one block. 

This play is on the farm : 

1. House. 

2. Barn. 

, 3. Windmill. 

4. Granary. 

5. Corncrib. 

6. Green House. 

7. Chicken Coup. 

8. Milk House. 

Make house, using all blocks except one triangle. Have house 
old fashioned with chimney in center of block. 

Now take away the front two-thirds of the cube, leaving the 
back with the chimney which makes the windmill. Now take away 
one side of the windmill and add it to the two-thirds you first took 
away, and you have a barn and what is left of the windmill makes 
a granary. Take the last thing you added to make the bam and 
the other side of the granary, put them together and you have a 
chicken coop. Now separate the bam in halves (the long way) and 
you have a corn crib. Take one-half of this corn crib and add it to 
the chicken coop and you have a milk house. 



LESSON II 



FROEBEL'S LIFE. 



Years ago — away back in 1718 — in a little German village 
named Oberweissbach, there lived, among many other children, 
one called Frederick Froebel. He is said not to have been a 
remarkably bright or winning child; in fact, no one ever thought 
much about him as a childish individual, but very kindly, as he 
says, "let him alone." But he had some remarkable traits, which 
followed him through life and shaped and planned his future 
destiny and purpose. 

His home nestled right in the shadow of a great church, and 
the child, as other children would have done, played and grew, as 
it were, beneath its very dome. But a life shadow deeper than 
that which the old church cast crossed his pathway. His mother 
died when he was quite young, and the little life was left, as many 
have been, to be tossed about with no gentle guiding hand to lead. 
But time flew, and a new mother was brought to take the place of 
the true mother and to watch the charges left. She was a good 
mother as far as care goes, but oh! such a difference! 

The life of the little child was impetuous, earnest and warm, 
but the new mother did not understand, and she chided him and 
could not enter into the thoughts and games that seemed so real 
to him. 

So, as Mother Nature sympathized with him, he went to her 
for information. He might have brooded over his neglect and 
lived unhappy, but instead he grew in with the joys of nature. 
He learned of the birds and flowers, the trees and streams, the 
moss and stones — for even stones can talk, and who better than a 
little child can understand some things they say? And the sky 
talked to him, and the clouds, as they hung dark and low, or 
skudded like white sails across a sea of blue. 

After a time, his home ties not being such as they should 
have been, he was taken to more congenial surroundings. He went 
to live with an uncle who was very fond of him, and while staying 
at his home he went to school. Mother Nature's teachings only 
made him more eager for the study of the more common branches. 
Perhaps he pitied those who had never learned under his chief 
instructor, and he worked and thought with a zeal that would 
have done credit to an older brain. 

Years passed, and all these years he had been thinking and 
planning, and trying to put into practice what Nature had taught 
him. The remembrance of his own childhood caused him to think 
of its likeness to others, and he realized the importance of answer- 
ing the great question ''why?" His first work consisted in writing 



1] 

books and articles which were the outcome of his meditations and 
experience. They were generally frowned upon and severely 
criticized. 

In 1840 his thoughts found expression in the opening of a 
Kindergarten at Blankenburg. Here he devoted his entire time 
and solicitude to the welfare of those under his care and instruc- 
tion. Here he met with many discouragements, and very few of 
his friends approved of his struggling cause. In this institution 
he endeavored to train teachers for the furtherance and wide- 
spreading of his work. And none can better realize the goodness 
and nobleness of his character and purpose than those who worked 
under his guidance and direction. His tender love for and his 
sympathy with the children lent the charm to his gentle life. And 
there in his Kindergarten, the full realization of all his hopes, 
Froebel worked out the wonderful secret by which we have profited 
so much. 



PART II 



LESSONS HI, IV, V AND VI 



of 



Home Study Course 



of 



Mothers Kindergarten School 



Copyright 1914 

MOTHERS KINDERGARTEN SCHOOL 
KANSAS CITY. MISSOURI 



14 



LESSON III 



DEVELOPMENT THROUGH SELF-ACTIVITY. 

When we stop to think that all a baby has in the beginning 
are a few movements (reflexive, impulsive and instinctive) ; that 
these are beyond his control ; that his whole development depends 
on his physical movements; that he has no mental development, it 
is almost inconceivable that experience alone can accomplish so 
much in so brief a time. 

Miss Shinn says that the infant ''is an automaton in the 
sense that he has practically neither thought, wish nor will." 
Thorndike says that *'to the little child everything at first is a 
haze." O'Shea says: ''He is a ship adrift the winds and the 
waves send him hither and thither as they will. He is absolutely 
dependent, and is far more helpless than a calf, colt, kitten or 
puppy"; while James says: "Everything is a blooming confusion 
or chaos." Froebel says : "The world at first comes to the child 
out of its notice in chaotic confusion. Out of this chaotic mass of 
indefinite things the little one must develop himself, and it hardly 
seems fair to give such a preposterous task to such an irresponsi- 
ble person." 

However, he does not hesitate nor procrastinate, as is proven 
by every normal baby, who moves slightly, but almost constantly, 
the very^^first days, their legs drawing up, their arms stirring, ("heir 
eyes and head rolling a little. Kirkpatrick says that "from the 
first the infant makes numerous spontaneous and random move- 
ments of almost every part of the body, independently of external 
stimuli, and that during the first few weeks the movements of an 
infant seem to have little relation to each other." Others also 
state that the baby is constantly in motion during his waking 
moments. This activity may also be noticed in a sleeping child, for 
there are many movements of various sorts. 

Why all this muscular activity? Is it caused from stimuli 
within or without, or both? O'Shea says: "The brain is so organ- 
ized at the outset that all paths lead quite directly to the motor 
regions." Stimulate a baby in almost any way and you will be 
likely to get an immediate response. "Whatever energy is set free 
by sensory activity is probably expended in motor reaction." 
Preyer's explanation is that the movements are simply due to the 
rapid growth of nerve centers, which cause an overflow of nervous 
force to the muscles and makes them contract at haphazard." 
And so we get two views. 

Some of the baby's movements are co-ordinated, though, and 
the explanations given above could hardly be applicable to this 
class of movements, though they are few. For example, the suck- 
ing movement, in which the co-ordination of tongue, lips and jaw 
are almost perfect and quite complex. Again the baby has at birth 
the power to grasp an object placed in his hands; can extend and 



15 

contract his arms, and has enough control over his vocal chords 
to make a noise. He has only a few other very simple co-ordinated 
movements, and these, combined with his impulsive and other 
movements, are his apparatus for beginning life — the only possible 
means he has of becoming adjusted to his environment. 

Never again in life will movements count for so much in 
developing and unfolding the soul within this little body. The 
infant must act to gain a knowledge of the things about him. He 
must learn the world by dealing with it in a motor way. ''Muscular 
experience," says O'Shea, ''are essential to the gaining of clear, 
definite, effective ideas of the world." Judd says that "action is a 
condition of mental growth." It is the basis of all true learning. 
To an infant, sense impressions are vague and hazy until they 
have been defined by actual contact which the objects yield. It 
would be an abnormal child who was not incessantly active in a 
muscular way. 

At first these movements would naturally be impulsive and 
unrestrained, for the baby has not yet learned co-ordination. Most 
of his reactions are practically all characterized by lack of defi- 
niteness. They are riotous, chaotic, not purposeful or adoptive, 
except in the most general sense, in the words of O'Shea. 

For a number of weeks the child has these manners of move- 
ments, but by the time he is 4 months old correlation sets in, and 
this generally happens in an accidental way. It is about this time 
also, or a little earlier, that the cerebral cortex (seat of intelli- 
gence or consciousness) is developed. The first correlation is cer- 
tainly an interesting one, I should judge. The little one would 
possibly grasp for a ball or something that interested him and 
miss it far, then he doesn't know how to correct his mistake, but 
will try again, and come a little nearer, perhaps. There appears 
to be no way to secure advancement except through experimenta- 
tion, or play, or curiosity. 

It is an interesting fact that the child uses his larger muscles 
first. For example, the arms and legs are used almost exclusively 
at first. "The little thumb is doubled up within the fist and the 
fingers remain tightly clenched, oftentimes during sleep. The 
arms are never thrown out from the body, but in direct line with 
it. There seems but little variety and but slight complexity in 
these first movements." The wave of development moves con- 
stantly outward toward the extremities. Soon the child learns to 
use his hands, fingers, and lastly thumb. Then the arm better, as 
a whole. 

In all his activities the things which impresses one most is the 
amount of force he expends upon them. For instance, if he attempts 
to love you his caresses will fairly take your breath. O'Shea says that 
the reason for this is that his force is not rightly distributed and cor- 
related throughout the parts of the whole apparatus employed, and one 
of the main objects of his life at this early stage is to learn to direct 
his force. His advancement along every line is tov\^ard greater and 
greater co-ordination. Another example of the lack of this co-ordina- 
tion is when a child is learning to walk. At first he doesn't use his 
knees at all; they might as well not be there, for his legs seem abso- 



16 

lutely jointless or even wooden. ''Rigidity" seems to be the word that 
describes all unco-ordinated muscles. 

As the months pass we notice that co-ordination increases and 
muscularity decreases. This muscular action might be compared to a 
channeled watercourse, for as a current of water will deepen a gully 
till it drain into itself all the water that had spread about in shallower 
ditches, so the wave of molecular change running along a nerve some- 
how prepares that nerve so that by and by instead of spreading about 
through any fibers that come handy the whole energy will draw itself 
into the accustomed ones. Then, of course, the muscles to which these 
run will perform more and more easily the accustomed acts. As less 
and less energy is required to make certain movements, co-ordination 
becomes easier and more evident. This is the explanation given by 
Miss Shinn, and it makes it quite clear. 

And so the baby progresses from one thing to another. We find 
him in the first hour of his life with only a few movements with which 
to develop himself and to become acquainted with this great big world 
of ours, and at the end of his first year we find him on the physical 
side, occupying his energies in acquiring control of his senses and of 
his muscles; on the intellectual side, in the development of sensa- 
tion and perception and the rudiments of memory, imagination and 
thought. At birth he could not make voluntary movements of any 
sort ; now he has the ability to make a number ; he has gained a bodily 
consciousness of himself in a world of objects, of distance and direc- 
tions; he has increased power of communication; he has learned to 
grasp things in mind by association. In fact, as Mis Shinn says, 'The 
breathing automaton has become an eager and joyous little being, 
seeing and hearing and feeling much as we do, knowing his own body 
somewhat, and controlling it throughout to a certain extent, laughing 
and frolicing, enjoying the vision of the world with a delicious zest, 
beginning to show a glimmer of intelligence, and to cross over with 
sign and sound the abyss between spirit and spirit." 



LESSON IV 



LATER ACTIVITIES. 

In the later activities of the child we find instincts playing a prom- 
inent part. The impulsive, objectless movements seem to decrease. 
The child has better and more complex co-ordinations, much more in- 
telligence and begins to do as he sees others around him do. We find 
first one instinct and then another calling forth his activities. 

The first instinct that is evident is generally fear, and as a rule 
it is quite marked in the child. One of the first causes of fear is a 
loud sound, and we would naturally expect such sounds to produce a 
disturbing effect on the weak and unstable nervous organization of a 
child of four or six months. Sully says that "children seem to have 
a special dislike to black apparel, and George Sand describes her fear 
at having to put on black stockings when her father died. Yet any 
change of color in dress will disturb a child." The close connections 
between aesthetic dislike and fear is seen in the well-marked recoilings 
of children from uncanny-looking dolls. In the care of a timid child 



17 

almost anything unfamiliar and out of the way, whether in the color, 
the form or the movement of an object may cause fear. To children 
any seemingly uncaused movement is apt to excite a feeling of alarm. 

Fear of the dark is no doubt very common among children, and it 
seems to arise when intelligence has reached a certain stage of devel- 
opment. They will fill the dark with imaginative forms of alarming 
animals, so terrifying that George Sand hardly exaggerates when she 
says, ''This fear is, I believe, the greatest moral suffering of 
children." 

Children are often frightened at the sight of an animal, too. Sully 
says that "a black animal, as a sheep or a cow, seems more particularly 
to come in for these childish aversions." He says further that " it is 
sometimes said that children inherit from their ancestors the fear of 
certain animals, but so far as I can ascertain facts are strongly op- 
posed to the theory of an inherited fear of animals." The fact that 
what frightens one child may delight another at about the same age, 
seems to me to be a strong argument in defense of Sully's statement. 
Oftentimes the way an animal is introduced to the child will be the 
cause of his feelings toward it. 

It is needless to say that the fear of punishment should retain 
some place in the child's life, but it limits, and one should be careful 
how to use it. 

Curiosity is a very strong instinct of childhood (and often con- 
tinues through life) . If it wasn't for this instinct I hardly know what 
might be the detriment to the child. This eternal ''why" is one of the 
greatest means of learning. James says that "young children are 
possessed by curiosity about every new impression that assails them 
and that material things,- things that move, living things, human 
actions and accounts of human actions will win the attention better 
than anything that is more abstract." 

No doubt the strongest instinct in the child is that of imitation. 
"Every child has it, and to a certain extent it is the basis of his educa- 
tion. Through imitation he becomes conscious of his own powers and 
of his place in the world. It is partly an effort to understand, and 
we find the baby attempting it at about six months old, and all through 
the remainder of his life he will be what he is, to a very large extent, 
through this imitation." It is the foundation and stimulus to almost 
every play, and very often to work. James says that "Invention and 
imitation are the two legs, so to call them, on which the human race 
has walked." 

Emulation is imitating so as not to appear inferior, and is "the 
very nerve of human society." Many modern reformers discourage 
the spirit of rivalry, but it is certainly a good thing, providing enmity 
and unfair means are not encouraged. James says that "this feeling 
of rivalry lies at the very basis of our being, all social improvement 
being largely due to it." 

Ambition is the next instinct, and emulation often slides into it. 
James classifies imitation, emulation, ambition, pugnacity and pride 
together under the head of the "Ambitious Impulses." It seems to me 
that it is a splendid thing for ambition to exist in a school room or 
home, just as long as it remains ambition. 

Much might be said of the pugnacity instinct. Some of us would 
nor could not progress very far without it. The child who is imposed 



18 

upon should be made to feel that he is being imposed upon and should 
be encouraged to fight — to assert himself and to hit back. Such chil- 
dren, however, are rare. If this lack of pugnacity is due to physical 
inability very little can be done. Oftentimes if a child's pugnacity or 
pride is aroused he will conquer difficulties that you couldn't induce 
him to attempt otherwise. 

Another class of instincts, according to James, are love of appro- 
bation or vanity, shyness, and secretiveness, but he does not consider 
these very deeply. A child is naturally affectionate if he is treated 
all right, and if he respects you he will generally want your approba- 
tion of whatever he does. If you can once arouse love in the child 
for you, you can easily lead him through this love of approbation. 
A secretive child is very hard to deal with, but you should always 
be open and frank with him and lead him to think you expect the 
same of him. 

^ The instinct of ownerhip in a child is one of the ''endowments of 
the race." The sense of ownership begins in the second year of life, 
and James says that ''it seems essential to mental health that the indi- 
vidual should have something besides the bare clothes on his back to 
which he can assert exclusive possession, and which he may defend 
adversely against the world." Through this instinct we can teach the 
child order and neatness in home as well as school. This instinct, I 
think, helps to develop the child's individuality to a very large extent, 
too. 

James makes a special point of constructiveness as an instinct, 
and up to the eighth or ninth year a child hardly does anything else 
but handle objects, putting them together and pulling them apart, and 
the more different kinds of things he can thus handle the more confi- 
dent grows his sense of kinship with the world in which he lives. 

The social instinct is not mentioned by James, but most students 
of child psychology think it is one of the fundamental things in the 
child's life, and it is indeed a prominent factor in the Kindergarten. 
Miss Tanner says that the criminal is anti-social, and further, that 
nothing will help such a person as the knowledge that he is needed and 
is of use to the community. This is one of the tasks of the Kinder- 
garten — to make each child feel that he is wanted, that he is needed, 
and that we are all working together for the good of each other. 

Much more might be said about later activities, but I believe if we 
could find a child without fear, curiosity, imitation, emulation, ambi- 
tion, pugnacity, pride, constructiveness, ownership, sociability, love of 
approbation, shyness and secretiveness we would indeed have an al- 
most "passive" child. 



LESSON V 



MOTHER'S RESPONSE HERE AND LATER. 

The mother's response to the early as well as the later activities 
is very important. It depends upon her to develop the child to a large 
extent by responding to his physical (and, later, mental) activities. 
The child's faith is based on experience with his mother, and it is from 



ei 



19 

her that he gets his moral standards. At the very beginning the faith 
in the mother is first physical, and if she be a true mother — that is, 
if her soul has not been warped — she will respond with joy to this 
first bond of sympathy. 

"Akin to the child's susceptibility is his excitability. The strings 
of his soul vibrate responsive to the lightest touch." Often a mother's 
response is entirely instinctive ; as Froebel says, "It is written in her 
own heart and utters itself artlessly and unconsciously in all her simple 
motherly ways and words, and through them she speaks to herself 
and tells herself what to do." The child has only to throw out the 
hint and the response of the mother is almost immediate. Take, for 
example, the play with the limbs. In this little play the child throws 
out his limbs in the mere joy of living. Instinct tells the mother that 
he wants an object to measure his strength against and so enjoy it 
the more, consequently she places her hands so he may kick and press 
against them, thus feeling resistance and his own strength. This is 
only one example, but all of the mother plays interpret in one way or 
another, to the mother, her own instinctive words and deeds and help 
her to a clear consciousness both of what she is trying to do for her 
child and of the inner impulse whence her effort proceeds. 

Nothing will so strengthen the child, so develop him threefoldly, 
so tighten the bond of love and dependency between himself and 
mother, so prepare him for future life, so bridge the gulf between 
the unconscious and conscious periods of life, so make the plays of 
infancy a "round on that ladder of experience over which the soul 
climbs towards self-realization and self-knowledge" as the response of 
the mother at the right moment. 

IMPORTANCE OF MEETING EACH STAGE WELL. 

We only live one stage of our life at a time, yet each stage is a 
round in the ladder of life, and when viewed as a whole and in unity 
each must be as perfect as possible in order to m^ake the whole as it 
should be. 

As the child develops from, one stage to another we must meet the 
requirements of each one and round it out as full and as perfect as we 
have the power to do. For instance, the growing child has great 
activity, which must not be suppressed but must be directed in the 
right channels. When he reaches the age of five or six. Kindergarten 
meets the demands of that stage, but up to that time it remains for 
the mother to feed the little mind and guide the little hands. When 
the stage of boyhood is reached the child life seemfe to expand and 
more is taken in — very little is forgotten. 

I like to think of a child as he meets each succeeding stage as 
expanding, growing mentally and physically, having broader interests 
and more varied, continually unfolding. I like to think of all the 
preceding stages blending into the new one, and all the things con- 
nected with the past stage as not forgotten nor outgrown, but still 
cherished in memory with the same fondness — only viewed in a 
different light. 

The importance of meeting each stage well can never be doubted 
when we look around us at the wrecks of men, who, if one but asks 
them for their life history, will tell of a starved childhood or a neg- 



20 

lected boyhood. The law of nature requires that each stage be full to 
overflowing and well rounded out, as the man will be sure to suffer 
for it later in life. There is but one time and one place for every- 
thing, says nature, and if we heed her not we must suffer the 
consequences. Forebel says: ''If at any time in his life man has 
neglected to respect in the use of his powers their divine nature, and 
to develop them for work he will necessarily and unavoidably be 
overtaken by want in proportion to his neglect. At least he will not 
at some time reap what he c'ould have reaped." 

IMPORTANCE OF DEVELOPMENT OF INDIVIDUALITY. 

Teachers used to often make the mistake of considering the 
children under their care as a group rather than individually. 
Certain laws were laid down and there was no swerving to the right 
nor to the left in order to apply to the individual. However, our 
modem education is correcting that. Children in one room or one 
grade are not considered as so many children all to be dealt with in 
the same manner, but each child is studied and the environment 
adapted to him. 

People are beginning to realize that a child has characteristics 
and individuality as much as a grown person, and the best developed 
child is the one who has found himself, has learned of the power 
that lies within him, and that he is not one of many but one all by 
himself — of use to mother, family, school and community. 

"For in every human being, as a member of humanity and as a 
child of God, there lies and lives humanity as a whole ; but in each 
one it is realized and expressed in a wholly particular, peculiar, 
personal, unique manner; and it should be exhibited in each individual 
human being in this wholly peculiar, unique manner." 

Unless the child's individuality is developed he will never assert 
himself, he will be like a piece of machinery continually doing the 
will of another. His spirit will be crushed and he will feel of no 
particular value to any one. I can imagine nothing worse than a child 
with no individuality — just a dead copy of something else — could 
anything be more pitiful? 

VALUE OF LIMITS. 

"Sharp limits and definite subdivisions within the continuous 
series of the years of development are highly pernicious and even 
destructive in their influence." "It is possible only to indicate but 
not to point out in their full extent the unspeakable mischief, dis- 
turbance, and hindrance in the development and advancement of the 
human race arising from these subdivisions and limitations. Suffice 
it to say that only rare inner force can break through the limits 
set up around the human being by those who influence him." Forebel 
continues that the stages of human development as infant, child, 
boy, youth, man, are continuous and not really distinct, and should 
by no mieans be limited. 

What I have quoted from Froebel so far has been against limits, 
but there are limits which have a value. For example, letting the 
child feel that there is a limit to his freedom, and that there are 



21 

things he cannot and must not do. As he grows older, Barnes says, 
that if the mother and father will only be a punching bag for a few 
years, if they will only stick to the limit that they set in spite of 
the child's raving and storming, that the value to the child later in 
life will be inestimable. 

KINDERGARTEN APPLICATION. 

In the kindergarten the child is certainly made to feel "limit" 
in almost everything he does. There is a limit to his play, a limit 
to his work, limit to his songs, games, and playthings as well as 
working material. The kindergarten stands for law of right and 
small as the child is he knows he must conform to this law of right. 
Even the social side of it has a limit. As a consequence the kin- 
dergarten trained child is a better child generally than he who has 
missed the training. The value of these limits seems quite dis- 
cernible, and is often carried through life. 



LESSON VI 



LANGUAGE. 



Language is sound molded into definite forms and so made 
vehicular of ideas. 

Language is that which most obviously marks off human from 
animal intelligence. 

The babbling of an infant contains most if not all the sounds 
which are afterwards used in speaking. It is thus a wonderful con- 
trivance of nature by which the child is made to rehearse months 
beforehand for the difficult performances of articulate speech. 

The only signification which this primitive articulation can 
have is emotional. It grows out of expressive cries. 

The true explanation seems to be that the appearance of this 
mfantile babbling, just like that of the movements of the limbs 
which accompany it, is the result of changes in the nervous system. 
As the centers of vocalization get developed, motor impulses begin 
to play on the muscles of throat, larynx, and later on, lips, tongue, 
etc., and in this way a larger and larger variety of sound and sound 
combination is produced. It is instinctive and due to congenital 
nervous connections ; and at best it can only be said to express in its 
totality a mood or relatively permanent state of feeling. 

The child hears the sounds he produces and falls in love with 
them. From this moment he begins to go babbling for the pleasure 
it brings. 

In this infantile la-la-ing we have more a rudiment of song and 
music than of articulate speech. The rude vocal music of savages 
consists of a similar rhythmic threading of meaningless sounds in 
which, as in this infantile song, changes of feeling reflect themselves. 

Gesture — signs play a large part in the case of children who 



22 

are backward in talking, and so are nearer the condition of the 
deaf-mute. 

In the second half-year, when the preliminary practice has been 
gone through, certain sounds take on a distinctly expressive func- 
tion. Thus one little boy when 8 months old habitually used the 
sound *'ma-ma" when miserable, and "da-da" when pleased. 

In most vocabularies of children of 2 or 3 no term for food is 
found, though names for particular kinds of food, e. g., milk, bread, 
are in use. 

In what are called anomatopoetic sounds the child seeks to 
mimic some natural sound (**bow-wow," ''moo-moo"). These 
sounds come to be distinctive recognition — signs of particular classes 
of animals. 

Toward the end of the first six months and during the second 
half-year a child is apt to imitate eagerly any sound you choose to 
produce before him. 

Sometimes the subject is placed after the predicate, as ''Run 
away, man" (the man has runaway), "Out — pull — baby — 'pec" 
(baby pulls out the spectacles). 

A child will often oppose an affirmative to a negative state- 
ment as a means of bringing out the full meaning of the former. 
For example, "This is a nice bow-wow, not nasty bow-wow." 

The mastery of "I" and "you," "me," "mine," etc., forms an 
epoch in the development of the linguistic faculty and of the power 
of thought. 

The first use of "I" and "you" between 2 and 3 years is apt 
to be erroneous. Most children begin to say "me" and "my" before 
they say "you." 

The great transition from "baby" to "I" is wont to take place in 
favorable cases early in the first half of the third year. "Sugar" 
becomes "sugie," "piqture," "pickie." 

The names first learned are either those of individuals, what we 
call proper names, as "mamma," "nurse," or those which, like "both," 
"bow-wow," are at first applied to one particular object. 

Children frequently express the contrast big, little, by "mamma" 
and "baby." 

At first there is no sentence structure. The child begins to 
talk by using single words. 

Sentence structure begins somewhere about the twenty-first 
month. We commonly have at first quite short sentences, formed 
by two words in opposition. These may consist of what we should 
call an adjective added to and qualifying a substantive, as in the 
simple utterance of the child, "Big bir" (bird) or "Papa no" 
(papa's nose). 

The love of commanding, so strong in the child, makes the use 
of the imperative shortened to "pinkie." 

The accentuated syllable by exciting most attention is common- 
ly the one produced. 

It is among the consonants that most trouble arises. 

In many cases the difficult sounds are merely dropped. Thus 
poor may become "poo," "look," "okk," etc. This dropping is apt 
to be confined to the difficult sound. 



23 

More particularly ''s" and "sh" are apt to be omitted before 
other consonants. Thus stair becomes *'tair." 

When a man is very tired he is liable to produce inversions of 
order. The explanation seems to be that the right group of sounds 
may present itself to the speaker's consciousness without any clear 
apprehension of their temporal order. 

' We see a disposition to use habitually certain favorite syllables 
as terminations, more particularly the pet ending ''ie" as child 
language, expression of states of feelings, desire, etc., and imita- 
tion, we have the two commonly assigned origins of human language. 

The learning of the mother tongue is one of the most instruc- 
tive and entertaining chapters in the history of the child's educa- 
tion. 

Towards end of the year, in favorable cases true linguistic imita- 
tion commences. That is to say word-sounds gathered from others 
are used. 

The most obvious thing about these first infantile renderings of 
adult language is that they are a simplification. Monosyllables, if 
involving a complex mass of sound, are usually reduced as when 
dance is shortened to ''da." 

Polysyllables, though occasionally cut down to monosyllables, as 
when hippopotamus became "pots," are more frequently reduced to 
dissyllables, as when ''periwinkle" was. This year also witnesses 
the important addition of the pronouns and prepositions. 

A child is a great stickler for accuracy in the repetition of all 
familiar word sounds. The zeal of a child in correcting other's 
language, and the comical errors he makes himself by falling into 
exercising his pedagogic function, are well known to parents. Some- 
times he shows himself the most absurd of pedants: "Shall I read 
to you about this book, baby?" asked a mother of her boy, about 
two and a half years old. "No," replied the infant, "not out of dat 
book, but somepy inside of it." 

LANGUAGE AND PLAY. 

A miraculous change takes place in the child's sense — percep- 
tion in learning to talk. Before he learns the use of language, each 
thing or event is looked up as all in all by itself. Hence, he does 
not see its relations and cannot "apperceive" it. But just as soon as 
he learns language he sees every object, every single event or thing, 
as an individual of a class, as one specimen of an indefinite number 
of possible specimens. In other words, the use of language implies 
that the child has begun to use universal terms, words for classes, 
and to think of all objects as specimens of classes. It is a note- 
worthy thing, therefore, in the second year of a child to hear him 
call the name of an animal or thing upon seeing it. He has as- 
cended above his previous stage of development. To him the particu- 
lar object seen and named is one individual seen on a background of 
infinite possibilities of the production of such individuals. 

The child therefore begins to ask the names for all things and 
events, and the reason for this is found in what we have just now 
considered — ^the child's sense-perception has arisen above the plane of 
animal sense-perception, and he now and forever sees each thing 



24 

and will see it as a specimen of a class. Classification is effected 
bi' naming. It is the primarj^ condition for putting the mind in an 
attitude of re-enforcing his present observation by all its own ex- 
perience and all the experience of his fellows. He therefore wants 
a name for the class, so that he may forthwith begin to store up 
llie different possibilities of form, shape, size, color, and other varie- 
ties of type that he may find in future experience. 

in the acquisition of language the child has come into posses- 
sion of the most powerful instrument of self -education that exists, 
and he has acquired a new faculty of mind — the faculty of seeing 
each object before the senses in the light of its universal — that is to 
say, he sees the real with a margin of ideal possibilities around it. 

Here, therefore, begins the child's perception of ideals; right 
here, when he begins to use language. Seeing possibilities or ideals, 
the child now begins to have will-power. 

When the child possesses language and begins to inquire for 
names, begins to see ideals and to act to realize them, he can be 
helped greatly by the kindergarten. It should be used first in the 
house by the mother and the nurse, and afterward in the school. 

By language the child rises from an animal individuality to a 
human individuality. 



i 






PART III 



LESSONS Vil AND VIII 



of 



Home Study Course 



of 



Mothers Kindergarten School 



Copyright 1914 

MOTHERS KINDERGARTEN SCHOOL 
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI 



26 



LESSON VII 



PLAY. 



What flight and air are to the bird, play is to the child; it is 
both his distinctive activity and the element in which his life moves. 
In play he suffers neither the constraint of alien will nor of self- 
imposed purpose, but exercises an activity with its own end and its 
own reward. To study him in his play is therefore to study him 
when he is most himself. 

Many plays originate in the desire to exert force, or to measure 
it against the force of others. The delight he feels is in the con- 
sciousness of force; the stimulus to exertion, the resistance to be 
overcome. 

The instinctive exertion of indwelling force and the instinctive 
imitation of external activities blend in the effort to create an ideal 
world, and the child throws into an active poem the total life within 
and around him. The personages of his drama are flowers and 
birds, animals and insects; his relatives, friends and neighbors; 
kind fairies, cruel ogres and malicious dwarfs. The one sole actor 
is the child himself, who feels softly stirring within him the pulses 
of the universal heart. Reproducing his experience as a whole, he 
interprets it to himself, and, thus transfigured, it constitutes the 
environment in which he lives and moves and has his being. 

Only as play becomes social is it revealed in its double nature^ — 
as, on the one hand, the expression of indwelling force, and on the 
other, the mirror held up to life. In the play world, as in the actual 
w^orld, there are parents and children, nurses and babies. There is 
social life with its interchange of visits, its entertainments and its 
gossips. There are weddings, baptisms and funerals. 

To objectify himself, to take the world into himself, and to dis- 
cover and represent the ideal implicit in each — such are the deep 
impulses which stir the child to play, as later they impel the man to 
literature and art. 

With a presentiment of the truth that to find himself he must 
feel himself the soul of the child, knocks at the gate of universal 
life. The ideal which he liolds up to himself in play reacts upon his 
character, and what he represents himself as being he actually 
strives to become. 

Need we wonder, then, that Schiller can so emphatically assert 
that man is only man when he plays? And thoughtful Jean Paul 
affirms that as meat and drink are man's first prose, and as the 
necessity of obtaining these creates trades and handicrafts, so is 
play his first poetry and the instrument through which all his 
higher possibilities are developed. 

In general, children seem to have a special relish for portray- 
ing cruel parents, tyrannical teachers, and refractory pupils, and 
they also delight in mimicking the snobbishness and insincerity of 
our social intercourse, and the affectations which characterize many 
of our fashions. 



27 

The games of American children are generally of purer moral 
tone than those of French children; still their darling theme is 
courtship and marriage, and their favorite climax a kiss. Illustra- 
tions are superfluous, for we have all seen some eager child turn 
from ''east to west to choose the one she loved the best." 

Science has shown that the embryonic period of physical de- 
velopment is a masquerade of long-vanished forms of life. In like 
manner the children of each new generation seek instinctively to 
survive the life that is behind them, and their favorite occupations 
and amusements re-enact the prehistoric experiences of mankind. 
All children crave living pets, build sand houses, and make caves in 
the earth; are fond of intertwining bits of straw, paper or other 
pliable material ; delight in shaping bowls and cups and saucers out 
of mud; and are inveterate diggers in the ground, even when, as in. 
City streets and alleys, such digging is wholly without result. Can 
we fail to recognize in these universal cravings the soul echoes of 
that forgotten past when man began the subjugation of Nature by 
taming the wild beasts, the erection of rude shelters, the weaving 
of garments, and the manufacture of pottery? 

Even more interesting than the reproduction of primitive in- 
dustries is the struggle of the child's soul to express its own nature 
in the varied forms of art. To sing, to hear and to repeat simple 
rhymes are the chief delights of all young children ; and alliteration 
has for them a tireless charm. Nor are they less eager to build, 
draw, paint and model. 

The kindergarten gifts are Froebel's practical response to the 
cravings of childhood. The six soft balls of the first gift, and the 
sphere, cube, and cylinder of the second gift, satisfy on the one hand 
the primitive desire to exert force and cause change, and on the 
other, afford typical experiences of movement, form, color, direction 
and position. 

The care of animals, the cultivation of plants, the building exer- 
cises with the third or fourth gifts, the occupations, etc., accentuate 
the educative elements implicit in the industries of aboriginal men; 
and finally, through the architectural exercises of the fifth and 
sixth gifts, through the work with tablets, sticks and ring; through 
drawing and painting exercises, and through clay and card-board 
modeling, the artistic powers of the child are called into happy play 
and he becomes, so far as in him lies, an architect, painter, designer 
and sculptor. 

Add to these varied forms of artistic expression the kinder- 
garten games with their dramatic representations, rhythmic move- 
ments, poetry and song and we must admit ''the .all-sided develop- 
ment" of innate powers. 

I. Through the productive exercises suggested by Froebel, the 
child achieves a fivefold development. 

II. Advancing from the external arrangement of fixed material 
to technical and artistic processes (he gains manual dexterity and 
skill). 

III. Rising from mere imitation and production by rule to free 
creation (he develops originality of thought and power of expres- 
sion) . 

IV. Receiving from productive activity the incitement to obser- 



28 

vation (he studies the salient qualities of physical objects and 
masters thus the alphabet of externality). 

V. Energizing to realize in external things his vision of their 
ideal possibilities, (his will power is strengthened, and he becomes 
a practical force). 

VI. Last, but not least, through the exertion of causal energy 
(he forms the habit of looking from sensible facts to their produc- 
ing causes, and of explaining all objects and events through their 
process of evolution). 

Froebel's gifts are instrumentalities for self-development 
through self-expression. 

With Pestalozzi the great word is sense-impression; with Froe- 
bel the great word is self-expression. 

''Mind grows through self -revelation." 

The kindergarten is the apotheosis of play. 

Through the exercises with the kindergarten gifts and occupa- 
tions, the child becomes increasingly conscious of his own power to 
master the external world. Through the ideals revealed in the 
songs and games he is incited to self-mastery, and begins to feel 
"the thing he ought to be, beating beneath the thing he is." 

In a number of kindergarten games the child pictures his ideal 
relationship to the animal world. 

By connecting the actual care of pet animals with plays pictur- 
ing the child's duty toward them we achieve a twofold result: we 
stir the young heart with premonitions of the privilege of care-tak- 
ing and with glimmerings of the gratitude he owes to those who 
have cared for him. It is often said that children are impervious to 
the feeling of gratitude. The reason is obvious : they cannot ap- 
preciate the care given to them until they have given care. In car- 
ing for animals the child learns to subordinate his pleasure to their 
good, purifies his selfish love for them into a thoughtful and pro- 
tecting affection, and fosters in his own heart that spirit of good 
will and helpfulness which, transferred from feeble and defenseless 
animals to feeble and defenseless human beings, blossoms into the 
disinterested service of mankind. 

The sense of duty roused by responsibility for pet animals may 
be strengthened by care for plants. 

Childhood, like every age of life, needs its duties, and these 
must be simple, definite, and above all, inexorable. Moreover, the 
child must feel that his duties are genuine, and not mere burdens 
imposed upon him by the arbitrary will of parents or teachers. All 
duties are born of relationships. 

The first reverence is cultivated in children through their rela- 
tionship to parents and teachers; the second through their relation- 
ship to each other; the third may be most effectively developed 
through the relationship to animals and plants. Flowers that are 
not watered will die ; the bird or kitten not fed will die. If through 
sloth or thoughtlessness the child fails to give the needed care, he 
brings upon himself the loss. 

The care of animals and plants is important for its influence 
upon the intellect as well as for its influence upon the character. 
It is needless to do more than to allude to the fact that what the 
child cares for he will observe and study, and that hence gardens 



\ 



29 

and living pets forni the best possible introduction to botany and 
natural history. 

The dominant impulses of the child are to reproduce the life 
that is around him; to revive the life that is behind him; to foster 
the life that is beneath him. 

In work the mind concentrates itself; in play it surrenders itself 
to the allurement of its object. Work demands the subordination of 
personal inclination; play occupies itself according to its own ca- 
price ; work seeks an end different from its activity ; in play the 
end sought is the activity itself. Work prepares the individual for 
combination with his fellows; play develops originality and enriches 
the individual with something distinctive which he may contribute 
to his fellows ; work without play degrades man into a machine ; play 
without work makes him a toy of circumstance and impulse. 



LESSON VIII 



PLAY. 



' The interest of child's play lies in the fact that it is the work- 
ing out into visible shape of an inner fancy. 

The source of play is to realize a bright idea : whence, its close 
relationship to art. 

The child adventures as he personates Robinson Crusoe or 
other heroes steps out of his every-day self and so out of his every- 
day world. In realizing his part he virtually transforms his sur- 
roundings, since they take on the look and meaning which the part 
assigns to them. . 

There is no need to suppose that in this sim.ple kind of imita- 
tive play,' children knowingly act a part. It is surely to misunder- 
stand the essence of play to speak of it as a fully conscious process 
of imitative acting. The child is possessed by an idea and is work- 
ing it out and he does not need your flattering observation. Indeed 
your intrusion may destroy or diminish his enthusiasm and illusive 
realization. Perhaps indeed one may say that the play-instinct is 
most dominant when a child is alone or at least self-absorbed, 
absorbed. 

The essence of children's play is the acting of a part and the 
realizing of a new situation. 

Sometimes there is scarcely any adjustment of scene; the child 
plays out his action with purely imaginary surroundings. Some 
simple play-actions as going to market to buy imaginary apples 
occur very early. 

The impulse to invent imaginary surroundings is very common 
among lonely and imaginative children. 

The invention of fictitious persons fills a large space in child- 
life. 

Children love to react their little play-scenes in some remote 
spot, withdrawn from notice. How many a thrilling, exciting play 
has been carried out in a comer, especially if it be dark, or better 
still, screened oif. The fascination of curtained spaces, as those 



30 

behind the window curtains, or under the table-cloth hanging low, 
will be fresh in the memory of all who can recall their childhood. 

A step towards a more realistic kind of play-action is taken 
when a scene is constructed, the chairs and sofa turned into ships. 

In all his play the child desires somebody if only as listener to 
his talk in his new character ; and when he does not rise to an in- 
visible auditor, he will talk to such unpromising things as a sponge, 
a fire shovel, etc. In more active play, where something has to be 
done he generally desires a full companion and assistant, human or 
otherwise (animal). And here we meet with what is perhaps the 
most interesting feature of childish play — the transmutation of the 
most meagre and least promising of things into complete living 
forms. The introduction of these living things seems to illustrate 
the large compass of the child's realizing power. 

The doll takes a supreme place in the fancy realm of play. It 
is human and satisfies higher instincts and emotions. 

Endless is the role assigned to the doll. The doll is the all- 
important comrade in that solitude of which the child, like the 
adult, is so fond. 

Very humanely, on the whole is the doll-lover wont to use her 
pet, even though there are moments of rage and battering. 

The doll illustrates the childish attitude towards all toys, the 
impulse to take them into the innermost and warmest circle of per- 
sonal intimacy, to make them a living part of himself. The child's 
language points to an early identification of self with belongings. 
The *'me" and the "my" are the same, or nearly the same, to a mite 
of three. This impulse to attach the doll to self or to embrace it 
within the self-consciousness or self-feeling shows itself in odd 
ways. 

This feeling of oneness is strengthened by that of exclusive 
possession, the sense that the child himself is the only one who 
really knows dolly, can hear her cry when she cries, etc. Children 
will often expect the mother or nurse to kiss and say good night to 
their pet or pets — for their hearts are capricious — when she says 
goodnight to themselves. 

The doll illusion is one of the first to pass. 

The intensity of the realizing power of imagination in play is 
seen, too, in the stickling for fidelity to the original in all playful 
reproduction, whether of scenes observed in every-day life or of 
what has been narrated. 

The tenacious faith in play shows itself when the child under- 
stands skeptical questions of others, and sees that they are poking 
fun at his play and his day-dreamings. Such cruel quizzings of his 
make-believe are apt to cut him to the quick. 

Play may produce not only this vivid imaginative realization at 
the time, but a sort of mild permanent illusion. Clusters of happy 
associations gather about it, investing it with a lasting vitality and 
character. One little boy when speaking of his favorite wooden 
horse (Dobbin) said, "No tarpenter (carpenter) made Dobbin, he 
is not woodin, but kin (skin) and bones and Dod (God) made him." 
If anyone said "it" in speaking of the horse his wrath was instantly 
aroused, and he would shout indignantly: "It! you mut'ent tay 'it,' 



31 

you must tay 'he.' " He imagined the horse was possessed of every 
virtue and it was strange to see what an influence this creature of 
his own imagination exercised over him. If there was anything he 
particularly wished not to do his mother had only to say "Dobbin 
would like you to do this," and it was done without a murmur. 

There is another domain of childish activity closely bordering 
on that of play where a like suffusion of the world of sense by im- 
agination meets us. I refer to pictures and artistic representations 
generally. If in the case of adults there is a half illusion, a kind 
of oneirotic or trance condition induced by a picture or dramatic 
spectacle, in the case of the less-instructed child the illusion is apt to 
become more complete. A picture seems very much of a toy to a 
child. A baby of eight or nine months will talk to a picture as to a 
living thing ; and something of this tendency to make a fetish of a 
drawing survives much later. 

The imaginative transformation of things, more particularly the 
endowing of lifeless things with life, enters into all children's pass- 
times. 

Play proper as distinguished from mere day-dreaming is activity 
and imitative activity, and children show marked differences in the 
energy of this activity, and in the quickness and closeness of their 
responses to the model actions of the real nurse, real coachmen, etc. 

Children show a curious selectiveness in their imitative games, 
germs of differential interest, sexual and individual, revealing them- 
selves quite early. It may be added that a child with few oppor- 
tunities of observation - may get quite enough play-material from 
storyland. But play is never merely imitation, save indeed in the 
case of unintelligent and ''stoggy" children. It is a bright invention 
into which all the gifts of childish intelligence may pour themselves. 

PLAY. 

Play is child's most characteristic manifestation. 

1. Exertion of force — "Play with limbs." 

(a) Satisfaction of craving for recognition — 
Running, leaping, and so forth. 

2. Imitation and dramatic — Alien activities. 

(a) Hunger to comprehend — Representation of 
our relationships and important events — 
"Life must be reviewed and understood." 

3. Highest form synthesis of tw^o above. 

4. Social play — higest and truest form. 

(a) Play world. 

5. Relation of play to art and literature. 

(a) Experimental and constructive play — Illustra- 

tions. "First mere exertion of force 
rises into productive and transforming 
energy." 

(b) Parallel here between child and race. (Pets, 

sand-houses, clay digging, weaving, cut- 
ting paper, etc.) 



32 

(c) Other primitive expressions of art impulse. 

(Singing, dancing, drawing, painting.) 

At a year or even two years old child plays alone and prefers 

to. Social play under two takes form of fighting generally. 

Desire for social play increases from two on and at nine or ten, 

child doesn't care for any other. 

Carl Grose is the standard work on play and it is called "The 
play of man." 

THE USE OF PLAY AS A FACTOR IN EDUCATION. 

"Interest in the life behind us is born of interest in the life 
around us." « 

The chief duty of early education is to fasten those sympathies 
with nature and man out of which springs the desire to study the 
processes of the one and appreciate the experience of the other. 

The care of plants an animals is good for two reasons — it 
develops responsibility and care and thought for others, and it has 
its intellectual value also in the sense of duty. 

QUOTATIONS. 

"Froebel claims only to do with clear consciousness and persist- 
ent purpose what maternal instinct has always blindly and intermit- 
tently attempted. He gladly accepts traditional material but vitalizes 
it by giving it a mathematical basis and by formulating the prin- 
ciples which should govern its use. Through exercises suggested 
by the child he achieves a fivefold development." 

We can't see play in its highest form with a solitary child — he 
needs social contact. 

Two thoughts the kindergartner must keep ever before her — as 
follows : 

(1) "Every exercise she gives should incite and develop self 
activity. (2) In every exercise she should strive to multiply the 
power and knowledge of each member of her class by the knowledge 
of all its other members." 

Children gain a great deal by being with cultured people and 
children and in a good kindergarten. 

It is a good thing occasionly to make child feel that he does not 
come up to the standard. Public opinion against him from other 
children is a good thing. Don't "harp and nag" a child nor don't 
criticise him in the presence of others. 



PART IV 



LESSONS IX AND X 



of 



Home Study Course 



of 



Mothers Kindergarten School 



Copyright 1914 

MOTHERS KINDERGARTEN SCHOOL 
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI 



LESSON IX 



MOTHER PLAY I. 



STIMULATION 



fror 
posi 
the 
obti 
bro 

fiiK 

sibl 
or 
bef 
be^ 
en( 
al 



PLAY WITH THE LIMBS. 



''When first the child delights to try 
What strength within his limbs may lie, 
The mother's nursery play begins. 
I It is a hint from heaven 

Unto the mother given. 
Through outward, inward life to waken; 
Through play and thoughtful sport to quicken 
The sense that feeling, foresight brings." 

Song. 
"How the little limbs fly out. 
Tossing, rollicking all about; 
Thus will they gain life and strength- 
Stamp the flax-seed out at length. 
To make the oil so clear and bright. 
That feeds the pretty lamp all night, 
Where mother's love burns still and clear 
While watching o'er her child so dear." 
The automatic movements of independent respiration, circula- 
tion, and digestion begin as soon as the child is born. 

At or soon after birth, reflex movements may be called forth 
by stimulating any of the senses, and most of these reflexes, such 
as closing the eye when the lid is touched, and withdrawing the 
hand or foot that is painfully stimulated, are, from the first, useful;; 
while others, such as clasping with toes and fingers an object touch- 
ing them, were probably at one time in race history useful in help- 
ing the mother to carry the child. 

The instinctive movements are very few for human parents ! 
are prepared to do almost everything except breathe and digest 
for the child. 

The expressive mechanism for crying is well developed fromi 
the first, because this is needed to call p.arents to relieve unfavor- 
able conditions; while smiling and laughing do not appear until 
much later, because such movements are of little biological value. 

Starting at sudden sounds, especially when they are accom- 
panied by a jar (as the sound of slamming a door) is very marked. 
This is perhaps the first evidence of a general instinctive fear of 
strange and strong stimuli. 

The tendency to bring the hands to the mouth, so prominent 



lip 

ra 
of 
dr 
ill 
rii 



35 

from the first, may be the result either of the habitual inter-uterine 

j position or of an instinct which was useful in the early history of 

! the race. The tendency is certainly very helpful to the child in 

obtaining touch sensations, since objects are by this movement 

brought to the mouth for closer examination by tongue and lips. 

Since ability to use the sense organs is useful to the child, we 
find a partially developed reflex tendency to turn the eyes and pos- 
sibly the ears to the most favorable position for use. Some weeks 
or months of time and possibly some experience are necessary 
before any but the first of these refiexes are perfect. Before the 
beginning of the second quarter, however, the eyes close at a threat- 
ened blow, move together, fixate, and follow moving objects, while 
a little later there is an accurate turning of the head toward the 
source of sound, and also a marked tendency to use the skin of the 
lips, fingers and toes in getting sensations of touch. 

From the first the infant makes numerous spontaneous and 
random movements of almost every part of the body, independently 
of external stimuli. These movements resulting from organic con- 
ditions, growth changes and the consequent outflow of energy are 
important means of developing the muscles and preparing by expe- 
rience for voluntary contraction of the muscles thus exercised. 

During first few weeks movements of an infant seem to have 
little relation to each other. 

In second quarter many combinations of movement take place. 
The eyes turn toward and follow a moving object, turn toward a 
sound or a portion of the body that is touched, thus bringing more 
than one sense into action. Head and body usually move with the 
hand in reaching for an object, and thus equilibrium is maintained. 
The movements of different parts of the body are therefore no 
longer independent of each other, but very closely connected. 

In this and the new quarter a new kind of movement becomes 
very prominent. Random and meaningless movements of parts 
change to those repeated rhythmic and partially coordinated move- 
ments of various muscle groups which we designate as play. Cer- 
tain movements of limbs or vocal organs are produced over and 
over for several days, then a new one is practiced for awhile. 
Various combinations of movements are made and the muscles and 
senses are thus exercised and associated in countless ways as the 
child amuses himself. 

In the latter part of the first year not only are movements 
previously made repeated in play, but movements seen and sounds 
heard are often playfully imitated and repeated over and over. 

Looked at in a purely objective way, the most marked change 
in the movements of a child during the first year is therefore, not 
in number, but in complexity, coordination and definiteness. From 
the use of one sense and one or two groups of muscles at a time 
the child has progressed to the combined use of muscles of legs, 
body, arms, fingers, head and eyes in getting objects and obtaining 
visual, tactual, and auditory sensations from them. The early move- 
ments were unconnected, and uncoordinated, and ended in nothing 
but movement, while at the close of the first year they are com- 
bined and correlated to each other, and in the changing of the posi- 
tion of the child or of some object. 



36 

When the psychologist finds that the greater part of the cortex 
of the brain (which there is good reason to believe is the seat of 
consciousness) is not active during the first three months of life, 
and when he observes that nearly everything the child does is some- 
times done equally well, or even better, when asleep than when 
awake, and that in children born without a brain, the movements 
are nearly the same as in normal children, and when he remembers 
that the child cannot have any knowledge gained from experience 
that the adult has, he is warranted in saying that there is nothing 
in the young infant's mind sufficiently like what is in the adult's 
mind to warrant the use of the same term. If he will say that 
there is any consciousness at first it is most like the vague feelings, 
almost without ideas that are sometimes experienced by adults when 
in a drowsy state. 

The child sleeps most of the time at first and is probably con- 
scious of only the more intense stimuli. 

The child is at first simply a wonderful mechanism whose parts 
are not all finished or connected, beginning to feel and become con- 
scious of what it does. It is distinctly conscious of only the more 
intense or newer things that it does, and learns how things are 
done only after it has done them a number of times. Conscious- 
ness probably has no influence whatever upon what is done for 
several months, but is merely an imperfect report of what is being 
done and has been done — ''a log book of the first voyage of the 
vessel of life, in which appear only the regular food watches and 
the unusual events of the voyage." 

Every sensation soon has a background of general bodily sen- 
sations and a fringe of past sensations. 

The processes of perfecting mechanisms, developing them for 
new purposes, and combining them in various ways, are the chief 
exciters of conscious activity, and the means by which the mental 
self grows. Every new experience illuminates and enlarges the 
field of consciousness, and extends the control of the growing self. 

In the acquisition of voluntary control there are most interest- 
ing combinations of motor and mental processes. 

To be voluntary there must be some idea of the end previous 
to the act by which it is gained. 

It is evident, therefore, the voluntary efforts can be made only 
after considerable experience in non-voluntary movements, which 
gives a basis for forecasting the possible and probable results of 
movements in response to familiar stimuli. The muscular and 
nervous mechanism is, in part, the same, whether a motion is vol- 
untary or involuntary; but in one case the results are anticipated 
and perhaps chosen from among several possibilities, while in the 
other they are not, whether will is an actual force in consciousness, 
and an utterly impossible one to a young child whose motions con- 
sist only of separate random and reflex movements. 

The hands, however, can move in so many ways, each differin^r 
in character and difficulty and for so many different ends, that 
consciousness of hand movements readily becomes intense, antici- 
patory, directive, effortful, selective, and hence voluntary. The 
acquiring of voluntary control of the hand is therefore a good type 
of all volitional progress. 



' , 37 

The arms are controlled, but the hands show little more than 
original reflex. 

The child uses both hands when object is directly in front, 
and the nearest hand when it is on one side. 

''One child, in his one hundred and eighty-second day, can 
grasp and hold in one hand a ball an inch or more in diameter." 

"In his two hundred and seventeenth day, looked intently- at 
a ball as he struck it repeatedly, evidently associating sight, sound, 
and motion." 

The act then has the essential characteristics of a voluntary 
movement. This usually occurs between four and five months. 

The muscles first brought under control are the larger ones of 
the whole arm, while the space in which control is first exercised 
is directly in front and near the level of the mouth. 

Other movements than those of the hand come under voluntary 
control in a similar way; first the eyes and head turning toward 
the sounds and sights, the body in sitting, then the hands in grasp- 
ing, then the final close of the first year, the legs in creeping, stand- 
ing, and walking, and the vocal organs in repeating sounds. 

The tendency to locomotion, though primarily developed in the 
race as a means of nutrition and escape, is fostered in the indi- 
vidual child more by the instinct of curiosity or the desire for the 
sensations to be obtained by coming in contact with various objects 
than by the desire for food and escape. 

Walking becom.es possible when its reflex elements can be prop- 
erly combined. Such an instance as the following shows that the 
whole mechanism for walking may be developed and its parts con- 
nected without experience, and that consciousness hinders rather 
than helps, all of which indicates that walking is more instinctive 
than is usually supposed. 

There are three ways to learn things: 

(1) ''Trial and success method." 

(2) Imitation. 

(3) Understanding or reasoning. 

Animals and young babies learn almost wholly by the ''trial 
and success method," and by unconscious imitation; young children 
by more or less conscious imitation, and adults by understanding. 

The chief differences in a human being at different stages of 
development are due not merely to experience, but to different in- 
stincts which are present or prominent at different periods of life. 

Our whole mental life — intellectual, emotional and volitional — 
is developed from our instincts. 

NATURE MOTOR ACTIVITIES AND GENERAL ORDER OF 

DEVELOPMENT. 

The simple or reflex movements are, as a rule, the response 
of a single part of the organism to a simple stimulus to that part. 
Examples are : the winking of the eye when the lid is touched, or 
jerking the hand away when pricked. Dependent upon internal 
conditions to some extent. 

Instinctive movements differ from reflective or reflex also in 
the fact that they are for the good of the whole body instead of 



38 

for some one part as reflex are. (All parts of the body are pro- 
tected by reflex movements.) Winking the eye and jerking the 
hand protect the eye and the hand, -while taking food (instinctive 
movement) benefits not the mouth but the whole body. 

Instincts of any animal correspond to its structure. Cats do 
not fly or dive when chased by a dog, nor ducks climb trees. 

' Automatic movements are carried on without consciousness; 
so are reflex. Instinctive movements are also dependent upon 
mechanism rather than consciousness, but this is not so readily 
admitted. 

Fixed instincts, like habits in man, work almost mechanically. 
Not only does consciousness not direct the activity, but so long as 
everything goes smoothly there is little or no consciousness. 

The acquisition of new possibilities of movement makes con- 
scious intelligence possible and useful, especially in animals and 
children. Animals with fixed instincts, but with ability to act in 
a variety of ways and to learn by experience, is evidence of intelli- 
gence. Man has more instincts than any other animal, but the 
variety of action thus made possible, and the modifications produced 
by experience, makes it seem as if he had none. Instincts in gen- 
eral are useful. What is for the good of a young animal depends 
upon: 

(1) Structure of animal. 

(2) Its surroundings. 

(3) Its temporary bodily conditions. 

(4) Its age. 

(5) Instincts of its parents. 

The human infant needs and has at birth few instincts, be- 
cause the human parent has the instinctive tendency to care for it 
strongly developed. 

FIXED INSTINCTS. 

Even quite fixed instincts need to be plastic so that there may 
be ready adoption to change and environment. (Ex.) In past ages 
it was universally advantageous for fish to take all worms and 
grasshoppers dropping into the stream, but when man came on the 
scene with hooks the instinct often had bad results. 

Fixed instincts are the most prominent in lower animals and 
the indefinite in the higher. 

CONTINUOUS INSTINCTS. 

Feeding and fear instincts are examples of continuous instincts ; 
they are present at birth and last all through life, though usually 
they are more prominent at times than at other. ^ 

TRANSIENT INSTINCT. 

Instincts like play are not present at birth but after they ap- 
pear continue to be manifested all or nearly all through life, though 
perhaps to a diminishing degree, for example the sucking instinct 
in animals shortly fades away. 

In children we can observe a ripening of impulses and interests 



39 

in a certain order. For instance creeping, walking, climbing, imi- 
tating vocal sounds, constructing, drawing, calculating, possess the 
child in succession. Later, the interest in any one of these things 
may wholly fade; of course, the proper pedagogic moment to work 
in skill and to clench the useful habit, is when the native impulse 
is most actually present. The hour may not last long, and we 
should take advantage of it. 

PERIODIC INSTINCTS. 

Other instincts appear only at certain times as at the migrating 
season or when caring for the young, and are therefore in a certain 
degree periodic or rhythmic. 

Most common theoretical statement of the order in which 
instincts develop is that they appear in the order in which they 
have been acquired in the history of the race from the lowest forms 
up. , 



« 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE INDIVIDUALISTIC INSTINCT." 

Parents should continue to do things for a child only so long 
as he is unable to do them for himself. Even before that social 
training should begin by requiring him to indicate his wants 
quietly. 

The charming appearance of unselfishness in desiring others 
to eat, see, hear and so forth, disappears in the fourth and fifth 
years, and he as a matter of course will try to get all good things 
for himself. Reflex sympathy and desire for approval influence 
his motives and actions; but usually the tendency to choose con- 
sciously that which will bring pleasure to himself, regardless of 
how it affects others. 

In general, the question which the child mentally asks of every 
object, and every person, is, "What are they good for?" meaning 
by "good," "What can I get out of them?" He is the center of the 
universe, and everything and everybody is for his pleasure. Per- 
sons, as well as things, are valued in proportion to the amount of 
pleasure he can get from them. 

The first few years of school life are pre-eminently periods 
of selfishness or individualism. The chief motive of life is to get 
everything possible for himself — objects, sensations, knowledge, 
privileges and honors. 

To be thoughtful of the interests of others, or to be interested 
in anything not concerned with the advancement of this kingdom 
of his, would be to be something other than a healthy, normal child. 

The extreme egoism or selfishness of a child from six to ten is 
nqt to be deprecated (though it may need some mitigation), for it 
is an important and valuable phase of development. 

The more pride and ambition a child has, so long as it is 
connected with active effort rather than passive enjoyment, the 
better for his future development. If praise and reward prompt 
to fresh effort (within the limits of his strength) a child can 
scarcely have too much recognition of his achievements. What 
would be unsufferable egotism in an adult is perfectly proper in 
the child. 



40 

The worst possible training is the fond and foolish kind which 
appeals to unselfish motives (without success of course), inflicts no 
punishment, and guards from the natural consequences of acts. 

A parent who guards a child from the natural results of his 
wrong acts, does wrong. 

The sense of taste proper plays a small part in the mental 
life of the child during the fi.rst two years. Its curiosity, playful- 
ness and interest are much more readily excited by tactile, visual 
and auditory stimuli than by taste proper. 

There is probably no time in life when gustatory pleasures and 
pains are more intense than at five or six years of age. To be 
able to gratify the desire for agreeable food and avoid disagreeable 
tastes, is at this time one of the chief motives in life. 

Next to feeding, the most fundamental instinct is that of fear. 

Sounds are more frequent causes of fear than sights, because 
such stimulation may be strong or sudden. 

Unless children have been accustomed to a light, they never 
become frightened at the dark until imagination develops. 

The period of greatest fear is usually at about three or Tour 
years of age. No matter how careful parents may be, they are 
usually little "fraid cats." Biologically this is the time they begin 
to act for themselves. Psychologically it is a time when the 
imagination is very active. 

WHAT TO DO IN CASE OF FEAR. 

(1) Should be avoided as far as possible, and when it is 
excited reassurance given as quickly as possible. If a child can be 
induced to be brave and face it himself, much is gained, or some- 
times bringing a light will have good effect. 

(2) Unreasonable fears (most common) cannot be dissipated 
by reasoning. One can only trust to quieting assurances, time and 
experience, and the growth of courage and self-control to effect a 
cure. 

The fighting instinct and its accompanying emotion, anger, are 
easily aroused by interfering with the child's activities or wishes. 
It is first manifested by crying, turning away the head, pushing 
away an offending object and later in kicking and striking. 

In dealing with this emotion care should be taken to avoid 
occasions of anger, especially when the child is hungry or other- 
wise in an irritable mood, and equal care that he gain nothing by 
his outburst, but rather lose something. Under no circumstance 
should the parent or teacher meet anger with anger. Indifference, 
isolation or a calm resistance that makes the child realize the utter 
uselessness of his passion are more effective. The reaction follow- 
ing a futile outburst of anger is likely to arouse reflections that 
lead to future efforts at self-control. 

Let boys fight. Nothing can be more unwise than to tell a 
child that he must not fight. 



41 
Quotations. 

''Every man is worth just so much as the things about which 
he busies himself." — Marcus Aurelius. 

''The energies of life may be prevented from being scattered 
by having purpose. Cultivation of purpose is the aim of education. 
Totality of power and personality is shown in purpose. Purpose is 
the soul stated in terms of motion. Man can purpose no greater 
than he is. The purpose that man has in him is his guardian angel." 

REFERENCE BOOKS. 

1. "Biography of a Baby," by Miss Shinn. 

2. "Dynamic Factors in Education," by O'Shea. , 
i 3. "The Child," by Miss Tanner. 

4. "Fundamentals of Child Study," by Kirkpatrick. 

5. "Talks to Teachers," by James. 

6. "Child Study," by Sully. 

7. "Child Psychology," by Irving King. 

8. Dopp — Index. 

9. Psychology — Angells. 

10. Psychology — Thorndike. 

11. "Education of Man"— Froebel. 

12. "Mottoes and Commentaries of FroebeFs Mother .Plays," 
by Susan Blow. 



LESSON X 



I, 



MOTHER PLAY 11. 



FAITH. 



STALLING, FALLING.'' 

"A deeper feeling underlies 
Each little play the mother tries. 
Thus in the falling, falling game 
The mind concerns a higher aim! 
Thy child shall gain the strength and skill 
To conquer many a coming ill — 
Shall many a threat'ning fall avoid, 
• When tripping by his- mother's side.'' 

i SONG. 

"Down he goes now, falling, falling ! 
Up he springs at mother's calling ! 
Laughs he now in frolic glee — 
Laughs so softly there to be. 
Sure he knows no harm befalls him 
While his loving mother calls him. 
Down he goes now, falling, falling! 
Up he springs at mother's calling; 
Soul and body thus unfolding. 
Mother's love is ever moulding." 

In this mother play the baby is lying on a soft cushion on 
his back. The mother takes hold of his hands and raises him to a 
sitting position, then lets go of his hands and lets him slip back 
on to the pillow. Another way to play it is to have the baby lying 
or half-sitting on a soft cushion on the table or in his crib. The 
mother picks him up, holds him a little above the cushion, then 
withdraws her hands and lets him fall upon the pillow, not hard, 
but with just enough force to give him a slight shock. 

This play differs from all the other mother plays because the 
mother ejects herself into it. In all the others she acts upon a 
suggestion from the child, but in this one she gives the suggestion. 

She plays it with her baby in order to increase his strength 
and his consciousness of strength. The bond of love is strengthened 
by the short separation and the return, and the child finds much 
joy in the latter — it amuses him. The play also gives baby con- 
fidence in his mother and strengthens the bond of sympathy and 
faith between mother and child. It is a slight shock to the nervous 
system and both mother and child love to play it. 



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43 

Some other plays with a similar purpose are *Teek-a-boo," 
"Hide-and-seek" and "Cuckoo.'^ 

Its physical value as has been said above is to strengthen the 
child and give him a consciousness of his own strength. It helps 
him to feel that his being is something apart from the people and 
the things that surround him. "The feeling of unity between the 
mother and child may become inordinate and injurious," Froebel 
says, and it is best that the child feel himself to be a being separate 
from his mother and all others, to a certain extent. Later, when 
he is large enough to play "Hide-and-seek" and "Cuckoo," "he 
seeks through physical separation to heighten his sense of spiritual 
union." 

The child's training in general is from dependency physically, 
mentally and morally to independency physically, mentally and 
morally. 

The kindergarten application of this is quite evident as well as 
important. It begins just as the mother — to give the child physical 
independence first. He must go to kindergarten and come home 
alone after the first few times, and this marks quite an epoch in 
his little life. Then he must take off his wraps and put them on; 
must take care of his work, and so on, and so forth. Soon he 
must think for himself — think what game he would like to play 
or what story he would like to hear or what work he would like 
to do, and so gradually at first and then very rapidly begins to 
develop mentally. But the moral side of his nature is developed 
as rapidly as the other two. He learns the right and wrong of 
many things — the harm of telling stories, the great law of right, 
and the social side of life. And so the whole physical training of 
a child's life, which has to include mind and morals, is the basis, 
practically, of the kindergarten. 

Miss Shinn gives three stages of self-development. The first 
is that of bodily self -feeling. The baby at first seems to know 
of or perceive the existence of others before he does that of him- 
self. Froebel says that the first smile marks a very definite epoch 
in the child's life and development, for it is the expression, at 
least, of the first physical finding of self. It isn't long before he 
finds that he has arms and can move them, then legs, etc. In the 
play of "Falling, Falling," the mother is trying to help the child 
find himself, to give him that bodily self -feeling. The second 
stage comes later and is that of "Intelligent self-perception." He 
begins to see a world outside of his own, and in his way to con- 
nect the two. The last stage is that of rational self-knowledge, 
and in this stage the child begins to learn of the powers within 
him and that he has control over his surroundings. 

The moral value of this play is very beautiful. It is one of 
the beginnings of relationship of confidence between the mother 
and the child. The very beginning of faith in the mother is at 
first physical. The child's faith is based on his experiences with 
her. He has no reasoning now and she can depend on this faith 
alone. He gets his moral Standards from her and she must be 
consistent. He must have faith in her and she must have faith 
in him. The mother should develop this faith in the child so as to 
lead him in later life. 



44 

The mother has to ''lose her hold" because the child must 
learn to depend upon himself for his own good. Sometimes we 
see a mother trying to hold a child back and to still keep "her arms 
around him," and it is to the child's detriment. In order to de- 
velop him to the fullest extent she must make him independent and 
thus "lose her hold." 

"Keeping still their circle around him" means that when the 
child was at the ag^ of dependency the mother had the power to 
establish such a strong bond of faith, sympathy and love, that 
when he grew to manhood and could no longer be held within her 
arms he would still feel "their circle around him," that is the bond 
of faith, sympathy and love that existed between them. 

Faith and experience are very closely related. As was stated 
above, the child's faith at first depends entirely upon his experi- 
ences with his mother and in later life he will still have the faith, 
though not nearly so many experiences and perhaps quite different. 
The faith will be sufficient to guide and lead him and make him 
obedient. 

The relation between faith and activity is also very strong. 
In early life when the child is first learning to walk, is a very good 
example. If the mother has faith in him and is able to make the 
child feel this faith, to make him feel that she believes he can do it, 
the child will try again and again, for his faith in her is unlimited 
and continues to be in later life if she be the loving mother she 
should be. 

There should always be an interchange of confidence between 
the mother and child and as he grows older this should increase 
instead of decrease. Mothers often lose the confidence of their 
children by laughing at somethin.s: they tell them in all seriousness, 
and once lost it is never regained. 

If there does exist a beautiful interchange of confidence be- 
tween the mother and child, he is quite likely to apply it in other 
ways — to make friends readily, and to enjoy social intercourse, for 
as he grows older he will naturally want to apply this confidence 
in a broader sense, and he will love to have confidence in his; 
fellow men. 

How the child is developed from dependency morally, men- 
tally and physically to independency, and "how this play illustrates 
the principle of separation and return," I believe you will find 
satisfactorily (at least to the best of my ability) described in other 
parts of this lesson. 

The climax of all these plays is the union after the brief 
separation. 

(1) This play strengthens baby by resistance. 

(2) Amuses child. 

(3) Gives baby qonfidence in his mother. 

(4) Strengthens bond of sympathy and faith betweeen mother 
and child. 

Child may be two or three* weeks old when first played 
with. 

Play is slight shock to nervous system. 
This is the only play in Froebel's book of mother plays into 



1, 



45 

which the mother inaugurates herself; in all the others the baby- 
gives a suggestion to mother. 

This play is one of the beginnings of relationship of confidence 
between mother and child. Mother should develop this faith in 
child so as to lead him in later life. He has no reasoning now 
and she can depend on this faith alone. 

Every mother play is typical of a whole range of experiences. 
It stands for a principle that holds good while child is developing 
through self-activity. 

Child's faith is based on experience with mother. He gets his 
moral standards from her. She must be consistent (mustn't catch 
him one time and let him fall another) . 

Very beginning of faith in mother is first physical. A little 
baby likes to be held in strong arms. Child must have faith in 
mother and later she must have faith in him. 

Kirkpatrick says "that children will do what you expect them 
to do." That no one without a large amount of faith in humanity 
should ever enter a school room as a teacher. That every teacher 
should have faith in her pupils. 

Close your eyes and let boys walk bridges, climb trees, etc. 
They need to do it to test their strength and ability. 

Don't laugh at what child tells you; it will destroy his con- 
fidence. There is hardly any limit in the faith a child will have 
toward his parents and early teachers if they are the least worthy. 
A child who has a conscientious loving, trusting mother, has some- 
thing to cling to always. A child is neither moral nor immoral — 
he is unmoral, and his parents are his standards. 



"THE MOTHER" 

"You struQ-gle blindly for my soul 

And wept for me such bitter tears, 
That through your faith my faith grew whole 
And fearless of the coming years. 

For in the path of doubt and dread 
You would not let me walk alone, 

But prayed the prayer I left unsaid 
And sought the God I did disown. 

You erave to me no word of blame, 

But wrapped m.e in your love's belief, 

Dear Love, that burnt my sin like flame 
And made me worthy 'of your grief." 

OUTLINE FOR "FALLING, FALUNG." 

1. First describe play and tell how it differs from all the others. 

(a) Why the mother plays it. 

(b) Mention some other plays with a similar purpose. 

2. Enlarge uDon its physical value. 

(a) Child's physical training in general. 

(b) Kindergarten application. 

(c) Gain in self-control and knowledge. 



46 

3. Three stages of self-development. — Explain. 

(a) Bodily self-feeling (self-control). 

(b) Intelligent self -perception "(world outside himself). 

(c) Rational self-knowledge (control over surroundings). 

4. Enlarge upon the moral value of the play. 

(a) Why does the mother ''lose her hold?" 

(b) Explain ''Keeping still their circle around him." 

5. Relation between faith and experience, as illustrated here and 
in later life. 

6. Relation between faith and activity. 

(a) What effect the mother's faith has on the child activity. 
Example of walking. 

(b) Child's faith in mother. 

(c) Interchange of confidence. 

(d) Broader application (friendship — social intercourse — re- 
ligion). 

7. How is the child developed from dependency spiritually, moral- 
ly, mentally and physically to independency? 

N. B. — (First to dressing himself, take care of own; 
toys, etc. In mental way letting him find out things' 
for himself. In moral way by obedience — conforming 
to a set standard. Right kind of obedience is best sort 
of faith in mother — choice in small things*.) 
(a) Describe means used — grows out of physical dependency 
first. 

8. How does this play illustrate the principle of separation and 
return. Describe briefly two other plays for older children 
that illustrate the same point. (Hide and seek and cuckoo.) 

9. What is the climax of all these three plays? Give a quotation 
from "Hide and Seek" and the "Cuckoo" showing this. 



1^ 



4/ 



Quotations. 



"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of 
things not seen." — Bible. 

"It would seem impossible for me to fail so surrounded by 
friends who make my course their own." — Robert Browning. 

Quotation from "Hide and Seek" is "The longing for physical 
separation, is the mark of a craving for spiritual union" and "The 
goal of life is unity." , 

Quotation from the "Cuckoo" is "Union in separation and 
separation in union." 



PART V 



LESSON XI 



of 



Home Study Course 



of 



Mothers Kindergarten School 



Copyright 1914 

MOTHERS KINDERGARTEN SCHOOL 
KANSAS CITY. MISSOURI 



LESSON XI 



MOTHER PLAY No. III. 



IMITATION. 



"THE WEATHER VANE." 

**When first the child beg^ins to imitate, 
Do not the little effort underrate. 
Do thou the same, it will the more delight him, 
And ever to renewed attempts invite him." 

SONG. 
"As the vane upon the tower 
Turns when winds and tempests lower, 
So my child his hand is turning, 
Pretty play and lesson learning." 
Froebel chose this because it was very common in his country 
and the children all knew it. They were familiar with its move- 
ment for they could see one almost any direction they looked. The 
mysterious force back of it appealed to them. I think another 
reason Froebel chose it was because the movement is so simple that 
a very small child could imitate it. So for these reasons he made 
it typical. 

Children love action and anything that moves will attract their 
attention. They are interested in the cause of the movement, so 
this play naturally pleases them. They want to understand things 
outside of themselves and get control over them as well as over 
their own bodies. They enjoy the play because they can inaugurate 
the movement and bring about a result. They like to search for 
the motive power. 

The physical value of the play is to exercise the muscles of the 
wrist. A child about nine months or a year old would play this 
and as he unconsciously imitates the mother's interpretation, he 
not only is exercising his wrist, but is getting better control over 
the hand, by using it by itself, separate from the arm. The joints, 
in the elbow are also exercised to a certain extent. 

"In this play the forearm and hand of the child are held as 
nearly upright as possible; the fingers are spread out to form the 
tail of the weather-cock; the flat hand m'akes its body, the little 
thumb its throat and head. The hand is moved to and fro in imi- 
tation of the movement of the weather-cock." 

The parts in general played by imitation in child development 
are as follows: 

First: Reflex, which is very simple and which is to a large 
extent imitation of facial movements, such as yawning, crying and 
laughing. The stimulus to reflex imitation is largely sensory. 

Second: Spontaneous imitation. This is when the child wants 
to reproduce and to experience subjectively what has been learned 
objectively. "Everything from the crowing of chickens to the 
whistle of a locomotive, front the wriggling of a snake to the 
preaching of a sermon is imitated. Nothing in his environment. 



51 

physical or social, escapes the child; he absorbs and makes it all 
a part of himself by reproducing, and thus getting a subjective 
knowledge of it. For three or four years this form of the instinct 
is dominant. The stimulus is usually a perception of some kind." 

Third: Dramatic imitation. This is closely related to the spon- 
taneous. In the previous, however, the child generally had a 
*'copy" before him, while in the latter he finds his own mode of 
reproducing or representing ideas. For instance, playing store 
and using spools for cans, plajdng house, etc. Memory enters in 
and he begins to form combinations. Symbols and images take the 
place of real personalities and acts. Imagination transforms any- 
thing and everything and images of previous perceptions are the 
usual stimuli. Dramatic imitation is more constructive and in- 
ventive than the spontaneous. 

Fourth: Voluntary imitation. The difference between dra- 
matic and voluntary imitation is that in the former there is no 
purpose outside of the act itself, while in the latter there is a 
purpose, as when a child imitates a word he has heard in order to 
get what he v/ants. "This form of imitation is concerned merely 
with how to imitate or represent. The impulse depends upon the 
end to be gained and not upon the mere perception of the act. 
Memory images are the guides in voluntary imitation." 

Fifth, and last : Idealistic imitation. This is ''an attempt, not 
to reproduce or represent any one act or object, but to produce an 
ideal derived from these numerous particulars." We do not know 
how early a child begins to imitate ideals, but about two and a half 
or three years old he is capable of it. Of course it is a very 
unconscious thing on the child's part; he does not realize that he 
has an ideal nor that he is copying someone. A child often idealizes 
mother and thinks that everything she does is all right, and later a 
boy often thinks that of his father. Of course, idealistic imitation 
is a higher form of imitation and comes later in life, for it is an 
imitation of ideals rather than action. A child gets more out of his 
spontaneous and dramatic imitation while a youth gets more out of 
idealistic. 

So we find the child at six months old just beginning to show 
the first faint indications of imitation. At nine months old it 
shows very clearly and from then until the age of seven years it 
plays a prominent part. Child imitates to gain control over his 
muscles and body and as he grows older his imitations become 
more playful — he wants to understand causes, ''why," "why," "why." 
Then, too, he gets definite results through imitation. He gains 
knowledge of self, of world, power over self and power of world. 
He becomes more sympathetic; the relationship between family, 
neighborhood, community, town, state and nation is made clear and 
strong because of the understanding gained through imitation. He 
learns to understand nature and God better and is unconsciously 
developed three-foldly. 

The kindergarten application of imitation is quite marked. It 
seems to be one of the foundation stones. Voluntary imitation is 
perhaps the one most appealed to for in this the child gains skill. 
In the rhythm work imitation is the keynote and with the table work 
a great deal is done through imitation. 



52 

Baldwin has made three divisions of development of early child- 
hood — the projective stage, in which a person stands for "a group 
of experiences quite unstable in its- prophetic as it is in its his- 
torical meaning"; the child is very much interested in persons 
and gains more through contact and relationship with them than 
any other thing; second, the subjective stage, which is imitation 
of these people and expanding of self. He is also becoming conscious 
of self. Third, ejective stage, which is giving out — reading himself 
into other people, not only imitative but inventive. I think the 
second stage is the most important because imitation plays such a 
large part in his life. 

Quotation from Baldwin. 

*'Sense of self always involves the sense of others." 

*'We become different selves thru imitation of others." 

"We see others differently because different ourselves. We 
read ourselves into them." 

'The child shows in the very first stage of his sense of him- 
self as a being of rights, duties, etc.; a very imitative nature. He 
is mainly occupied with the business of learning about himself 
other people and nature. He imitates everything, being a veritable 
copying machine. He spends the time not given to imitating others 
very largely in practicing in his games what he has picked up by 
his imitations and in the exploiting of these accomplishments. His 
two dominating characteristics are a certain slavishness on the one 
hand in following all examples set around him and then on the other 
hand a certain bold aggressiveness, inventiveness, a showing off 
of the use he makes of the things he learns." 

The relationship of invention and imitation is close for the latter 
often grows into the former and in kindergarten we aim for this. 
We help through imitation to give the child power to invent. 

The child's natural attitude toward nature phenomenon is gen- 
erally like that of the primitive man — fear — ^though Sully says that 
''children, by reflecting on what they see or otherwise experience, 
fashion their own ideas about nature, death, and the rest." A child 
does not talk about "relation," but pictures out the particular rela- 
tion it wants to express by a figurative expression, as in apper- 
ceiving the juxtaposition of moon and star as mamma and baby. 
So he does not talk of abstract force, but figures some concrete form 
of agency, as in explaining the wind by the idea of somebody's 
waving a big fan somewhere." 

"Beginning with children's ideas of natural objects, we find 
the influence of certain predominant tendencies. Of these the most 
important is the impulse to think of what is far off, whether in space 
or time, and so unobservable as like what is near and observed. 
Along with this tendency or, rather, as one particular development 
of it, there goes the disposition to vivify nature, to personify things 
and to assimilate their behavior to the child's own, and to explain 
the origin of things by ideas of making and aiming at some pur- 
pose. With the idea of a supernatural agent there is commonly 
combined that of a natural process as means employed, as when 
thunder is supposed to be caused by God's heavily treading on the 
floor of the sky.' 



)) 



53 

With respect to the make or substance of things children are 
disposed to regard all that they see as having the resistent quality 
of solid material substance. Thus children will try to touch sun- 
light, shadows dancing on the wall and picture forms. 

Wind, it has been well remarked, keeps something of its sub- 
stantiality for all of us long after shadows have become the type of 
unreality, proving that the experience of resisting something lies 
at the root of an idea of material substance. That older children 
believe in the wind as a living thing seems suggested by the readi- 
ness with which they get up a kind of play tussle with it. 

''Next to movement apparently spontaneous sound appears to 
be a common reason for attributing life to inanimate objects. Its 
sound greatly helps the persuasion that the wind is alive. A little 
boy assured his teacher that the wind was alive, for he heard it 
whistling in the night. The ascription of life to fire is probably 
aided by its sputtering crackling noises. The personification of the 
sea and the echo are excellent examples of the suggestive force of 
a voice — like sound." 

Closely connected with this impulse to ascribe life to what 
older people regard as inanim.ate objects is the tendency to con- 
ceive them as growing. This is illustrated in the remark of the 
boy that his stick would in time grow bigger. 

Anything which seems to have become reduced by losing a 
portion of itself is said to be ''broken." A little boy of three, on 
seeing the moon partly covered by a cloud, remarked, "The moon 
is broken." 

Some children think that trees make the wind blow and one 
child accounted for the wind at night by the swaying of tv/o large 
elms in front of the house and not far from the windows of his 
bedroom. This reversing of the real order of cause and effect looks 
silly, until we remember that the child necessarily looks at move- 
ment in the light of his own actions. He moves things, e. g.\ the 
water, by moving his limbs; we set the air in motion by moving 
a fan; it seems, therefore, natural to him that the wind movements 
should be caused by the pressure of some moving thing; and there 
is the tree actually seen to be moving. 

Children are disposed to localize the distant objects they see, 
as the sun, moon and stars, and the places they hear about on 
the earth's surface as near as possible. One child thought the sky 
and moon were just above the church spire, another that the set- 
ting sun was close behind the ridge of hills, etc. 

The child appears to think of the world as a circular plain, 
and of the sky as a sort of inverted bowl. One child on looking 
at the sky fancied that he was inside a blue balloon. That is to 
say he took the sky to be what it looks like. 

Children often speculate about the other side of the globe 
and are apt to fancy they can know about it by peeping down a 
V\^ell. 

The sky is apt to be thought of as thin, this idea probably 
being formed for the purpose of explaining the shining through of 
moon and stars. Stars are commonly thought of as holes in the 
sky, letting through the light beyond. 

The movements of the sun and other heavenly bodies are 



54 

similarly apperceived by help of ideas of movements of familiar 
terrestrial objects. 

Thunder is thought of as God groaning or as his hammering, 
etc. 

In like manner lightning is attributed to God's burning the 
gas quick, striking many matches at once, or other familiar human 
devices for getting a brilliant light suddenly. 

So God turns on rain by a tap, or lets it down from a cistern 
by a hose, or better, passes through a sieve or a dipper with holes. 

When frightened by the crash of the thunder a child in- 
stinctively thinks that it was all done to vex his little soul. 

We find that the child's and primitive man's idea concerning 
nature phenomenon are almost identical. 

This instinct of fear should be met very calmly. The child 
should not see elders afraid. He should be shown the beauty of 
a storm, and if possible taught to enjoy it. A mother can very 
easily make the child feel that the same mysterious force that 
makes the wind blow and the sun shine also makes the storm and 
that there is no cause for fear. His attitude depends largely upon 
her attitude. 

There is no better teacher of religion than nature, and the 
child who loves nature, loves God. He wouldn't understand an 
explanation of these nature phenomenon, but he does understand 
when mother explains to him that "a single mighty power like the 
wind can do many things great and small"; that he can see things 
that the sun and rain and wind do, but he cannot see the force; 
that he is sure they are there and that they will do these things 
when best, even though he cannot see the wind, nor touch the sun, 
nor taste the rain. She can lead him to believe in and cherish the 
power he cannot see, and this power is God. 

*'The desire to exert force creates games of strength and skill. 
In their activities they show what they are, and the reproduction 
of the activity is the first step toward the understanding of the 
object." 

Hardly any other instinct we appeal to as much as imitation 
in kindergarten. We imitate birds, animals, stories, our parents, 
etc. 

Kirkpatrick gives the following divisions of imitation: 

I. Reflex imitation. 

Through reflex imitation child gets our manners, language, etc. 
It is the most primitive and is almost physiological. It is un- 
conscious. 

II. Spontaneous imitation. 

Is dominant from six months to five years. Everything is 
imitated. Value of spontaneous imitation is the amount of material 
child collects and earns. Through it he comes into his social herit- 
age ; gets the power of speech, and habits ; understands social life 
and nature; learns to walk, learns movements and sounds. Nothing 
is imitated that does not attract attention. Spontaneous imitation 
is largely ruled by perception. 
III. Dramatic imitation. 

In this the child depends less upon direct perception and more 
upon imagery. It is a more constructive imitation. Things heard 



55 

and read are imitated. Symbols and images take the place of per- 
sons and acts and the imagination plays a very large part. 

Child adapts things to fit his image and materials to suit his 
purpose. The kindergarten is much this way. 

IV. Voluntary imitation. 

This is imitation for a distinct purpose — ^to gain some end. 

When child imitates some word he has heard to secure an 
object he wants, for example the word *'cake," or tries to handle a 
spoon which involves skill, like some one else, it is voluntary imita- 
tion. The child is attempting to gain skill. Attention is directed to 
parts of the process and it is more or less analytical. Memory is 
connected with this imitation, as child writing. Voluntary imitation 
appears in the 2d or 3rd year but is not prominent until about five 
or six years old. 

V. Idealistic imitation. 

' Attempt to act according to a copy or a standard to live up to 
it — to produce an ideal — result of concepts. Use of idealistic imita- 
tion in kindergarten is appealed to a good many times in simple 
v/ays. At Christmas time we give him the Christ as an ideal. Santa 
Claus as benevolence, knights of chivalry, etc. Ideals are built up 
and strengthened by stories. -;j( r 

Miss Blow says imitation is a race instinct. Child who imitates 
has formed ideal and energizes to realize it. It is a mark of prog- 
ress in development of infant but mark of degeneracy in man. 

Child who is very imitative is very subjective to suggestion. 

Be very careful about giving contrary suggestions. Here is an 
example. (A negative suggestion is less valuable than a positive 
one.) If I say ''Johnny, don't put the beans in your nose,'' why is 
it less valuable than to say ''Johnny, put the beans in your pocket"? 
Evidently in the first case Johnny's attention is fastened on the beans 
and nose, and he is at the same tim.e left inactive. The natural 
thing for him is to act on the idea presented. In the second case, 
his attention is fastened on a useful idea and he is given something 
to do. The different methods of treating a child who gets hurt are 
in the same line. It is better to make light of an injury because 
this gives the child a good copy to imitate. i :;!•'- 

There are children who have a craze to do things, for instance 
washing their hands — will run and wash them every fev*^ minutes. 
Just let them alone and they'll get over it. Don't try to stop them, 
for this only emphasizes the thing. 

Baldwin says child goes through three stages in development: 

I. Projective stage. 

Very much interested in persons. Gain more through contact 
and relationship with other persons than any other thing. Gets 
first sense of own personality through these. 

II. Subjective stage. 

Imitation of these people. (Very early child learns character 
of different personalities outside of himself — he knows who he can 
work. ) Self is expanding^"taking in" — and broadening. He is 
becoming conscious of himself . 

III. Ejective stage. 

Gives out — reads himself into other people. Not only imita- 
tive but inventive also. 



56 

Weather Vane is first of imitative plays : . 

1. Tell why it pleases child. . 

2. Why is it typical? 

3. Parts played by imitation in child's development and value 
of each. 

4. Why play pleases child. 

5. Physical value. 

6. Description of play. 

7. Application in kindergarten. 

8. Which one of Baldwin's division for stage plays the most 
important part? 

9. What is child's natural attitude toward nature phenomena ? 

10. Comparison between child's and primitive man's idea. 

11. How instinct should be met. 

12. Relation to religious training. 

13. Suggestion for wind for programme work or anything that 
has dealt directly with forces of nature. 

In kindergarten we are liable to make a child a parrot by hav- 
ing him imitate too much. ■ -. 

To guard against this give him a start through imitation and 
then let him go on and finish it. 

Impulse to pull away is the sign of too much inventive work. 

There is hardly anything you give a child b^^t what you can 
give him plenty of leeway. . ■ 

If child makes good suggestion whereby more m.aterial is 
required, or a better result obtained, it is a pity not to carry it out. 

Your attitude toward child, about natural forces, is to let him 
have all the experiences and let him notice and help him to see the 
result of all these natural forces. Tell him about pov/er back of all 
these. 

Manifestations of nature are more or less manifestations of 
God. Child can realize an ideal v/hich is not tangible. He relates 
v/onderful natural forces to God. 

Take a few days in spring for wind, bring in weather-vane. 
Tell story of Jan or the ''Wind's Work" in Maud Lindsay's "Mother 
Stories." 

The description of the wind in Longfellow's ''Hiawatha" is very 
good when worked over. Also Ulysses and the wind-bag. 

Weather-vane merely stands for any wind-blown object. You 
are not limited in its imitation. Take whatever appeals to the child. 

"No one of Froebel's plays represents a detached experience but 
rather the moving principle of many experiences. Each game must 
be conceived on the one hand as a center from which influence radi- 
ates in all directions and on the other as the vital germ of a par- 
ticular thought which is to be developed by other experiences and 
by recurrence to the play itself at different intervals throughout the 
v/hole of early childhood. 

"Don't ask a child 'How does the wind make you feel,' or 'What 
do j^ou think, about the wind?' — let him wonder without knowing 
that he is wondering. Let him think without knowing that he is 
giving a thought. Even in weather-vane when child questions about 
the wind he is only pointed to another wonder^ — that of moving his 
own wrist and mother says: 



-.^ 



57 

*'As the vane upon the tower 
Turns when winds and tempests lower, 
So my child his hand is turning, 
Pretty play and lesson learning." 

Baldwin's ^'Mental Development" tells us that the late rise of 
conscious imitation in the child is in the sixth or seventh month. 

Imitation considered as a type of reaction is organic and inher- 
ited. It has its place among race habits. Infants show remarkable 
differences, for example, in the readiness and facility with which 
they learn to speak. 

It is true not only of im^itation but of all motor acquisitions that 
they may become instinctive in some cases and yet must be acquired 
in others. : . 

Imitation is an instinct. 

Children are more imitative than animals, with one or two strik- 
ing exceptions — such as monkeys, the mocking bird, etc. The more 
kinds of co-ordinated movements an animal brings into the world, 
the fewer is he able to learn afterwards. 

The tendency to imitate may come into direct conflict with the 
prudential teachings of pleasure and pain, and yet may be acted 
upon. A child may do and keep on doing imitations which cause 
him pain. 

No new adjustment or adaptation could be effected without 
risk of pain and damage. The ethical truth that pain is a school- 
master, that we cannot dispense with its discipline and also grow, 
holds in this case. 

Memory and association do exactly the same thing for the 
organism, later, that preception, sensation, contractibility, do earlier. 

Association enables us to react to facts which are distant from 
present facts but allied to them. 

Memory enables us to react to the facts of the future as if they 
were present, thus conserving the lessons of the past. 

Perception enables us to set present facts in their proper set- 
ting, and thus to react upon them with full reference to their sig^ 
nificance. 

Sensation enables us to react upon facts according to their 
immediate worth to the organism. 

Contractibility, exhilarating itself in "organic imitation," is the 
original form of the adaptive reaction whch works through the 
whole process of development. 

Assimilation is always present. It is the necessary basis^ of the 
earliest association. Association has accordingly a motor founda- 
tion from the first. The elements hold together in memory because 
they are used together in action. 

All perception is a case of assimilation. 

Every two elements whatever, connected in consciousness, are 
so only because they have motor effects in common. 

At the early age of six months special memories are becoming 
sufficiently permanent to fix general attitudes and habits of action 
in the child. 

Speaking of conception, the child begins with what seems to be 

a "general." All men are "papa," all colors are "wed," all food 

mik." What this really means is, that the child's motor outlets are 



<<, 



58 

fewer than his receptive experiences. Each man is a repetition of 
the papa copy, and carries the child out in action, just as his own 
early response to the presence of the real papa carried him out. 

Sympathy may be called the imitative emotion for excellence. 
One child cried out in her fifth month when she saw a bottle cork 
pinched, and wept in her twenty-second week at sight of a man sit^ 
ting weeping, with bowed head in his hands, and his feet held fast 
in stocks. 

The sight of the expression of emotion in another stimulates 
similar attitudes directly in us, and this in turn is felt as the state 
which usually accompanies such a reaction. 

I have described in an earlier place the kind of responses which 
infants make in the presence of persons and the main facts may be 
here recalled. We have seen that one of the most striking tenden- 
cies of the very young child in its responses to its environment is 
the tendency to recognize differences of personality. It responds to 
what I have called ''suggestions of personality." As early as the 
second month, it distinguishes its mother's or nurse's touch in the 
dark. It learns characteristic methods of holding, taking up, pat- 
ting, kissing, etc., and adapts itself by a marvelous accuracy of pro- 
testation or acquiescence to these personal variations. Its associa- 
tions of personality come to be of such importance that for a long 
time its^ happiness or misery depends upon the presence of certain 
kinds of ''personality — suggestions." It is quite a different thing 
from the child's behaviour towards things which are not persons. 
Things get to be, .with some few exceptions which are involved in 
the direct gratification of appetite, more and more unimportant. 
Things get subordinated to regular treatment or reaction. But per- 
sons become constantly more important, as uncertain and dominat- 
ing agents of pleasure and pain. The fact of movement by persons 
and its effect on the infant seem to be the most important factor 
in this peculiar influence. Later the voice gets to stand for a per- 
son's presence, and at last the face and its expressions equal the 
person, in all his attributes. 

This distinction between persons and things, between agencies 
and objects, is the child's very first step toward a sense of the qual- 
ities which distinguish persons. 

Persistent imitation with effort is the typical case of explicit 
volition, and the first germinating nucleus of self-hood over against 
cbject-hood. , ■ 

For a long time the child's sense of self includes too much. The 
circumference of this sense of self is too wide. It includes the 
infant's mother, and little brother, and nurse, in a literal sense, for 
they are what he thinks of and aims to act like, by imitation, when 
he thinks of himself. 

We never outgrow imitation or our social obligation to it. 

The child, it is true, very soon comes across that most impres- 
sive thing in its moral environment which we call authority; and 
acquires that most responsive thing in our moral equipment which 
we call obedience. He acquires obedience in one or more ways — by 
suggestion or by reward and punishment. The way of suggestion is 
the higher; because it proceeds by gradual lessons in accommoda- 
tion, until the habit of regularity in conduct is acquired, in opposi- 



59 

tion to the capriciousness of his own reactions. It is also the better 
way because it sets before the child an object lesson, an example of 
that stability and lawfulness which it is the end of obedience to 
foster. Yet the way of punishment is good and necessary. Punish- 
ment is nature's way; she inflicts the punishment first and after- 
wards nurses the insight by which the punishment comes to be 
understood. 

It is only necessary to watch a two-year-old closely to see what 
members of the family are his personal "copy" — to find out whether 
he sees his mother often and his father seldom; whether he plays 
much with other children and what their dispositions are, to a 
degree; whether he is growing to be a person of subjugation, equal- 
ity or tyranny; whether he is assimilating the elements of some low 
unorganized social content. 

It is a very great mistake to isolate children. One alone is per- 
haps the worse, but two alone are subject to the other elem.ent of 
social danger. Don't let young girl in her teens room with another 
at boarding school. She meets, eats, walks, talks and lies down at 
night, and rises in the morning, with one other person, a "copy" 
set before her, as immature in all likelihood as herself, or, if not so, 
yet a single personality; put there to wrap around her growing self 
the confining cords of unassimilated and foreign habit. 

Above all things, fathers, mothers, teachers, elders, give the 
children room ! They need all they can get and their personalities 
will grow to fill it. Give them plenty of companions, fill their lives 
with variety — variety is the soul of originality, and its only source 
of supply. 

The ethical life itself, the boy's, the girl's conscience, is bom 
in the stress of conflicts of suggestions, born right out of his imita- 
tive hesitations, and just this is the analogy which he must assim- 
ilate and depend upon in his own conflicts for self-control and social 
continence. 

Children should never be allowed after infancy to room regu- 
larly together; special friendships of a close, exclusive kind should 
be discouraged or broken up, except when under the immediate eye 
of the wise parent or guardian. 

All those who have given even casual observation to the doings 
of the nursery have been impressed with the extraordinary fertility 
of the child mind, from the second year onward, in imagining and 
plotting social and dramatic situations. In his games v/e see the 
actual use which our children make of the personal "copy" material 
which they have got from you and me. If a man study these games 
patiently in his own children, and analyze them, he gradually sees 
emerge from the child's inner consciousness its picture of the boy's 
own father, whom he aspires to be like, and whose actions he seeks 
to generalize and apply anew. The picture is poor, for the child 
takes only what he is sensible to. 

A man labors for his children ten hours a day, gets his life 
insured for their support after his death, and yet he lets their 
mental growth, the formation of their characters, the evolution of 
their personality, go on by absorption — if no worse — from common, 
vulgar, imported and changing, often immoral, attendants ! 

Plato said the state should train the children; and the wisest 



r 



O o 

^ J! 



o .<u s 



o 



(U 



CQng 



60 

man should rule the state. This is to say that the wisest man 
should train his children. Hugo gives us, in Jean Vaijean and Cos- 
sette, a picture of the true paternarrelationship. 

Miss Tanner. O'Shea. 

Baldwin — Story of the mind. Kirkpatrick. 

James — Chapter on imitation. Mother Play — Susan Blow. 
Baldwin — Mental- Development. 
Mottoes and Commentaries of Froebel's. 
Miss Shinn — Biography of a Baby. 

Quotations. 

"I got up on the mountain edge and from the top saw the 
world stretch out, cornlands, and first the river winding among 
meadow flats and right off like a line on the sky, the moving sea 
with snatches of foam and large ships outward bound, and then I 
thought no more, but my heart went to meet the wind. I ran and 
I ran and I felt my legs under me — I felt the wind buffet me and 
hit me on the cheek. The sun shone, the birds swept past me 
singing, and I, too, sang and shouted, "World, world, I am coming." 

JAMES. 
N. B. — These quotations are also on nature phenomenon as 
well as imitation. 

"The world is too much with us, 
Late and soon, getting and spending. 
We lay waste our powers. • 

Little we see in nature that is ours. 
We have given our hearts away, assorted boon, 
* This sea that bears her bosom to the loom. 

The winds that will be howling at all hours, 
. And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers. 

For this, for everything we are out of tune." 

— Wordsworth, 
"Let knowledge grow from more to more. 
But more of reverence in us dwell, 
That minds and soul according well 
May make one music as before." — Tennyson. 
"Let the children see that the active principle in nature is 
God." 

"Reverence is the beginning of religion. An increased rever- 
ence is increased capacity for God." 

"Nature is the book where the child can most easily find his 
clearest thought of God and receive into his mind the appreceptive 
germs to which may be related the most vital elements of religious 
thought." 

"My heart leaps up when I behold 
A rainbow in the sky. 
So was it when my life began 
So is it now I am a man. 
So be it when I grow old 
Or let me die. 

The child is father of the man. 
And I could wish my days to be 
Bound each to each by natural piety." 

Wordsworth. 



I 



PART VI 



XII 



of 



Home Study Course 



of 



Mothers Kindergarten School 



Copyright 1914 

MOTHERS KINDERGARTEN SCHOOL 
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI 



LESSON XII 



MQTHER PLAY IV. 
MYSTERY 



ALL'S GONE. 

''The child, disturbed thinks all is gone 
When the empty cup aii^ plate he sees: 
Thou canst a wise thought make known, 

And easily his fancy please, 
Since what has vanished from us here 
Exists yet in another sphere: 
The bird has left the empty nest. 
To seek the field he loves the best. 
What from the outward sight is flown 
Will in another form be known." 

Song. 
• Gone, gone, niy child, all gonel.j: 
The Slipper-now is gone. ■■ - ^tH 
Baby is not now without it; 
Little tongue hath in it dipped; 
Down the little throat it slipped. 
Now it makes my baby gay. 
Full of frolic, full of play. 
, Now with health my child shall beam, . - : 

I i ><' trf "" >i*Red aijdv white,^ like rose and cream*-^ rf \f\\' f\ 
This play is a very simple one and the movement is familiar to 
all. The hands, held in a horizontal position, are given a slight 
waving movement, which tells in gesture that something is ''all 
gone," "or that of some coveted object nothing is left." 

One of the very first things a child says is "all gone," or some 
attempt at these words to express the same meaning. The child is; 
so universally interested in all gone because of the mystery. He' 
sees a thing and then he doesn't see it and it puzzles him. He wants 
to understand it — it is beyond him. He will often use the expres- 
sion "gone" in many, many ways, of some of which Miss Shinn 
speaks. She says: "The baby murmured 'Nggng' pensively when 
some one left the room; when she dropped something; when she 
looked for something she could not find; when she had swallowed ai 
mouthful of food; when she heard a door close. She wounded her 
father's feelings by commenting 'm-ga!' as her little hands wan- 
dered about the top of his unoccupied head. She remark 'Gong!' 
when she slipped back in trying to climb a step; when she failed to 
loosen a cord she wished to play with; when she saw a portiere, 
such as she was used to hide behind ; when ^ne was refused a bottle 
she had begged for. It meant disappearance, absence, failure, denial 
and any object associated with these." ' - 

Preyer says in speaking of his child that "the little fellow 
would murmur 'Atta!' when someone left the room or when the 
light went out." 



ire 

\ 
% 
the 
woi 



63 

The idea of disappearance — of the thing now seen, now gone — 
seems to take strong hold on babies very early. 

Knowing the child's interest in causes, forces and movements, 
and his very great interest in this mystery of ''here one minute and 
gone the next," can we fail to see Froebel's wise choice of this par- 
ticular subject. A child also has very great interest in his food and 
so Frcebel takes the disappearance of it as typical. The mother 
will often explain to the little one that his supper has ''gone" to 
make his body big, and his little legs and arms strong. 

The underlying principle of the play is the same one we try to 
emphasize in our nature work— that of continuity. What seems to 
be entirely gone, is only a change of form. There is no entire dis- 
appearance ever. This reminds me of a law we had in physics that 
"you could not destroy any material thing." You might burn a 
stick of wood, but still you would have the ashes and smoke left — 
merely changed forms — and if man only had the wisdom he could 
combine the smoke and ashes and have wood again, for nothing had 
been destroyed. I heard Rev. Vincent, of the University of Chicago, 
say once that "Nothing in nature ever dies; no human ever dies; 
you can't kill the soul — it is transition that takes place." A child 
has not been the only one to puzzle over this mystery and when 
Froebel made it the underlying principle of this simple little play, 
we cannot help but see the deep philosophical side of his nature. 

The physical value of this play is to exercise the wrist joints 
for one thing, but it seems to me we find a greater physical value 
when we read these little veises: 

"All's gone, the supper's gone, 

White bread and milk so sweet 

For baby dear to eat. 

All's gone, the supper's gone. 

Where did baby's supper go? 

Come, you had a share, I know. i 

Little mouth, wide open lips. 

Through your rosy gate it slips; 

Little throat you know full well 

Where it went if you would tell. 

Little hands grow strong. 

Little legs grow long. 

Little cheeks grow red; 

You have all been fed." 
These verses show clearly that the physical value of the play is 
to make the child grow. Here we find what I spoke of above — the 
mother explaining to the child that food has gone to make his cheeks 
rosy, hands strong, and legs long. The mother can make a strong 
point here between child's food and his development by making him 
feel that his health and strength depend upon the right kind of food, 
and that he must eat only the right kind. This is not only an 
opportunity for the mother but for the kindergarten. Often chil- 
dren are given pennies and even nickels by their parents and will 
buy on the way to kindergarten this cheap, highly colored candy. 
They naturally want the kind they can get most of for a penny and 
the kind that has the brightest colors, and of course this is the 
worst kind. If the kindergartner take it from them and explain 



64 

why she does, at the same time lead them to see the connection 
between their food and their bodies, she will soon be able to see the 
result of her efforts. I should thinfe in a kindergarten in the slums 
or among the poor this relation of food and bodies could hardly be 
overestimated. 

On the mental side the principle of continuity stands for mem- 
ory, association of ideas and apperception. 

This little play of *'all gone" one would think quite simple, and 
the play itself is, but when we consider that a child has to reach a 
certain stage of mental development before he can thoroughly 
understand the mystery and appreciate the play to its fullest extent, 
we realize that the play symbolizes a decided mental development. 
Dr. Harris says in his pyschology of an infant that "The first step 
above brute instinct begins when man looks beyond things as he 
sees them existing before him, and commences to consider their 
possibilities; he begins to add to his external seeing an internal see- 
ing; the world begins to assume a new aspect; each object appears 
to be of larger scope than its present existence, for there is a sphere 
of possibility environing it — a sphere which the sharpest animal 
eyes cannot see, but which man, endowed with this new faculty of 
inward sight, perceives at once. To this insight into possibilities 
there loom up uses and adaptations, transformations and combina- 
tions in a long series, stretching into the infinite behind each finite 
real thing." 

Up to this period things have come and gone and food has dis- 
appeared but the child has taken no notice. Now he has, according 
to Dr. Harris, taken the first step above brute instinct. ''He's 
proved his title to a soul!" 

''The creatures of the wood 
Know not of now or then, but live 
Cramped in the instant's mood." 

He has passed that stage. He can see beyond and he can 
remember the past. It must be quite a puzzle to the little mind, the 
first time something in the past is pointed to, in contrast with some- 
thing that is. 

This seems to be just the point of all our learning, however. 
We retain things learned in the past in order to associate them 
with the new, thus fixing the new more firmly in our mind and at 
the same time developing memory — for "memory is itself explained 
as a result of the association of ideas." The new precepts are all 
based on the old, and this is the law of association. James gives 
two fundamental laws of association — the first is the law of Conti-- 
guity and the second that of Similarity. He says "The entire rou- 
tine of our memorized acquisitions is a consequence of nothing but 
the law of Contiguity." "These laws run the mind," and he goes 
so far as to say " 'Types of character' in short are largely types of 
association." 

Knowing what this great law is to the mind, we cannot but see 
clearly that it should be the basis for all teaching. We must find 
out what the children's experiences have been and give them new 
ones through the old. Whenever we present a new subject to them, 
if we would associate it with something in the past or even two or 
three things in the past, it would be much more firmly fixed in the 



65 

mind of even the dullest pupil. James says "We hate anything 
absolutely new, anything without any name ,and for which a new 
one must be forged. So we take the nearest name, even though it 
be inappropriate. A child will call snow when he sees it for the 
first time sugar or white butterflies. Names — and each name stands 
for a conception of an idea — are our instruments for handling our 
problems and solving our dilemmas." James says that the act of 
taking a thing into the mind is appreciation. Angell says it may 
be described as the process of combining the new and the old, and 
this is one of the many processes in the development of a child that 
is taken up in kindergarten. 

We apply the two fundamental laws of association (contiguity 
and similarity) in kindergarten to everything that is done, to every 
exercise that is given. There is contiguity from hour to hour, from 
day to day, from week to week, from month to month, from Sep- 
tember until June. All new experiences given the child are based 
upon the old and all experiences hang together. Take first the 
child's perceptions, ''which represents the immediate, organized 
mental reaction of the individual upon his environment" (Angell). 
*'In it the world is presented as a system of relations" and when 
the child comes to kindergarten his perceptions are rather limited, 
but, by adding and connecting new ones to the old, he finds at the 
end of the first kindergarten year quite a new world in comparison 
with the one he started with in the fall. Take rhythm for an exam- 
ple. In this grade development is very essential. We must start 
out with a simple, familiar step, then go to a less familiar. Our 
success depends upon this, and if carefully and skillfully done the 
child who could only march in the fall will find himself in the spring 
doing complicated folk-dances that require grace and suppleness. 
It must be the same with Nature-work, occupations, gifts, singing 
and story-telling. There could not be a kindergarten without con- 
tiguity written all over its programme — any other kind would be a 
monstrosity. (For example take a day programme such as follows 
and you will see what is meant by contiguity.) 

I WORK IN CLAY MODELING FOR A YEAR. 

I. September — Learning to handle the clay, 
la. First week. 

lb. Let children make anything they want to. 

2a. Second week. 

lb. Free play, with an occasional suggestion. 

3a. Third week. 

lb. Free play with object in view. For example making 

~ things that mother used to get breakfast with this 
morning — bowl, plates, skillet, etc. 

II. October — Second Gift — Fallwork. 
lb. Make the sphere; take a walk and then make objects 

seen on walk that were based on the sphere (for 

instance nuts). 
2b. Make cylinder; take walk and then make objects seen 

on walk that resembled cylinder (watering can, 

candy jar, etc.). 
3b. Make cube; take walk and model object seen on walk 

that resembled cube (for example a stove seen in a 



66 

hardware window, etc.). 
N. B. — This kind of work with second gift comes only after 
children have begun to classify them. 

4a. Work out three bear story (bowls, spoons, chair, 

beds). 
5a. Work out Ball for Baby same as above. 
6a. Try modeling a Cat or animal that is being studied. 

III. November — Nut work — Getting ready for winter. 

1. Acorn on placque — basket to gather nuts. 

2. Apple. 

3. Pumpkin. 

4. Brownie-^Gingerbread man. 

5. Model a squirrel. 

6. Barrels and sacks a farmer uses for winter storage. 

7. Churning day — getting ready for Thanksgiving. 

IV. December — Xmas work — Introduction of trades. 

1. Things seen in a Santa Claus Shop. 

2. Xmas presents. 

1. Paper-weights (pumpkins, colored, or squirrels 

or barrels of "Apples"). 

2. Match holders. 

3. Candle holders. 

4. Conventionalized Xmas tree as paper weight. 

V. January — Interdependence, or Indian work. 

1. Carpenter's tools (bench, hammer, etc.). 

2. Furniture (based on cube) made by carpenter. 

3. Lumberman — logs he sends down the river, or cabin 

built of clay logs that he lives in. 

4. Woodman — Axe — (work out story of ''Sockia"). 

5. Indian pottery. 

6. Indian canoe and paddle. 

VI. February — In the Home. 

1. Sweeping day (dust-pan, broom). 

2. Baking day (stove, pans, etc.). 

3. Wash day (tubs, wringer, basket, etc.). 

4. Beaver or Bear — whatever animal is being studied. 

VII. March — Awakening of nature. 

1. Birds' nests (Take two distinct types or two that are 

radically different, as the oriole and the robin). 

2. Model the first bird to return that the children see and 

tell of. Let them color it. 

3. Tops and marbles. 

4. Sail-boat (?). 

VIII. April — Awakening of nature. 

1. Gardener's tools. 

1. Hoe, rake, spade, watering can. 

2. Model another bird radically different in size and shape 

if possible from last month's. 

IX. May — ^Work depends largely upon outdoor trips. 

1. Trip to a park and model things seen there, as see- 
saw, etc. 

X. June — Summer work. 1. Fruit. 2. Vegetables. 

On the moral side this play may be emphasized the same as 



67 

''Falling, Falling." Carelessness is the thing to be avoided, fore- 
thought the thing to be developed and opportunity the thing to be 
seized. The little boy loses his bread and butter, because he care- 
lessly laid it down, thinking only of the drink he wanted at the 
present, utterly lacking in forethought. The cat seized the oppor- 
tunity and got the bread, just as people always do, when they seize 
the opportunity. The little boy who caught the bird (to give to his 
sister) and placed it under his hat while he went to pick berries, 
lost his opportunity by not seizing it when it presented itself. He 
was careless in not securing it better and so lost it, and he was 
lacking in forethought or he would have given it to his sister first 
and then have gone for the berries. I have only mentioned two of 
the children in the picture, but the same lessons may be learned 
from each of the others. "If we want to keep things we must be 
watchful and careful, and we must not let ourselves be tempted by 
everything we see. In order to have things when we need them 
we must plan for them beforehand," and seize always the golden 
opportunity. 

Froebel emphasizes quite clearly, in the picture accompanying 
this play, the reaction of the deed upon the doer. This would lead 
one to suppose that he was a strong advocater of ''retributive pun- 
ishment." It surely is the most effective punishment, and could be 
applied to any child without discrimination. Miss Harrison says 
in "a study of child nature" that "we rob our children of one of 
the greatest aids to self-government and self-control when by any 
means whatsoever we free them from the consequences of their 
own wrong doing." That the child should learn that the "way of 
the transgressor is hard" is an important part of his education, 
and nothing could teach him that better than retributive punish- 
ment. Another great advantage gained is that this sort of punish- 
ment is never inflicted in anger, and the child does not lose one 
atom of self-respect, self-reliance, or self-government. He learns 
that each violation of law, physical, mental or moral, must be paid 
for, and surely this is one of the lessons of life. Still another ad- 
vantage of the retributive method of punishment is that each deed 
is punished or rewarded upon its own plane. That is, material 
defeats or conquests bring material loss or gain, and spiritual 
defeats or conquests bring spiritual suffering or reward. Again, 
the child expects justice, absolute justice, from his parent, and 
that parent who can control himself and let the child receive 
retributive punishment gives his child an exalted view of life. 

"Until a man has become a law unto himself, he is of no great 
value to the rest of the world; and punishments, rightly considered, 
are not merely an atonement for offenses committed, but they show 
the nature of the offense, and help the individual to build up the 
law within and thereby to avoid repeating the misdeed." 

One might judge from my lengthy discussion of retributive 
punishment that I considered it the most important thing in the 
lesson. There are too many splendid lessons to give any particu- 
lar one first place, but that subject certainly ranks with the others, 
for each child who loses his opportunity, who is careless, or who 
lacks forethought, receives retributive punishment. 

The things, or rather the lessons, mentioned in the above para- 



68 

graph can only be gotten through early moral training, and train- 
ing can only be gotten through habit. We must realize that today 
leads up to tomorrow and that each day must be as nearly perfect 
as possible. We can't afford to let a child do a wrong thing at any 
time, for he is slowly making character day after day. We are the 
ones who must realize this, for it is beyond the child — "we can 
never say with the drunken Rip Van Winkle^ I won't count this 
time"; it is being counted none the less. Down among the child's 
nerve-cells and fibers the molecules are counting it, registering and 
storing it up to be used against him when the next temptation 
comes. Nothing we ever do is, in strict scientific literalness, ''wiped 
out." If every teacher, every parent, had those words burned into 
their soul, the next generation would surely be a better one. We 
should never let a child do a thing poorly, but have him do it over 
and over again until the result is satisfactory, for ''that child is 
spinning his own fate, good or evil, and never to be undone." 
"Every smallest stroke of virtue or of vice leaves its never-so-little 
scar." 

It seems almost impossible to overestimate the value to a child 
of the good habits you have helped him to form, for "habit is a 
second nature, or rather, as the Duke of Wellington said, it is 'ten 
times nature.' " James says that "first of all the teacher's prime 
concern should be to ingrain into the pupil that assortment of 
habits that shall be the most useful to him through life," and he 
adds to this that "continuity of training is the great means of 
making the nervous system act infallibly right." "We forget that 
every good that is worth possessing must be paid for in strokes of 
daily effort." "We postpone and postpone until those smiling pos- 
sibilities are dead." 

If we realized to the fullest extent that "ninety-nine-hun- 
dredths, or possibly nine hundred and nine-nine thousands, of our 
activity is purely automatic and habitual, from our rising in the 
morning to our lying down at night; our dressing and undressing, 
our eating and drinking, our greetings and partings, even most of 
the forms of our common speech, are things of a type so fixed by 
repetition as almost to be classed as reflex actions" — if, I say, we 
realized this, we would be exceedingly careful of the habits of 
our child. No careless habits would be allowed to be formed, and 
no habits of allowing opportunities to slip by would be known to 
the child. We would train him to be watchful and careful, to seize 
opportunities as they presented themselves and to have a few 
thoughts for the future. 

We try to instill these habits into the child in kindergarten as 
well as in the home. He must be careful about his work and do it 
well, even if he has to do it over and over. If he has done his 
work carelessly and must stay after school to finish it, he misses 
the opportunity of going home with the others, which generally 
involves a good time. On the game circle he learns, through a 
great many games, forethought, and on the rhythm circle he learns 
to carry himself gracefully and carefully. These habits are instilled 
in the kindergarten child, continually, in various ways. Perhaps 
the best example of learning carefulness is in playing with blocks. 
If the play is a directed one, the teacher is satisfied with nothing 



69 

but the exact thing, just as she has given it. In learning to bal- 
ance blocks, also, the child must be exceedingly careful or he is 
unsuccessful. In weaving and many of the occupations the great- 
est care is an absolute necessity, and being required of him day 
after day in nearly everything he does it soon becomes a second 
nature — ''he makes his nervous system his ally instead of his 
enemy." 

The principle of continuity of life is illustrated in nature in 
many v^ays. The ones most commonly used in kindergarten are 
the seed (from the time it is a seed until it is a seed again) ; the 
leaves (from the time they show forth until they fall to the earth 
to make the soil rich and full of life for the new buds again) ; the 
butterfly (from the egg to butterfly again). These are all cycles 
of changes in nature and we try to have the child feel and know 
that they are such. We want him to feel that life is continuous 
and ever changing and that which seems dead in the winter is only 
sleeping; that no force is ever absolutely lost — only changed in 
form. 

We get the best idea of continuity of life from plant life, but 
we see it again very decidedly in insects, and we can supplement 
and broaden continuity of plant life by insect life, which has the 
whole cycle of four stages. 

These changes in nature are symbolic of development, of the 
growth in human life. We grow from the more physical to the 
more spiritual and finally to immortality. The butterfly is a beau- 
tiful example of this. ()ne would never think as he looked at the 
ugly, creeping worm that growth could make it so beautiful. So 
it is with our life — if it unfolds as it was intended to, it grows 
continually more beautiful and more spiritual — life goes right on, 
no matter what the material change is. The child gets a premoni- 
tion of immortality through nature just as he gets a spiritual con- 
ception through the weather vane, and any child who has not had 
the chance to put a seed in ground and watch it grow has lost a 
spiritual development. 

This play is related to the weather vane play because the same 
law of God is back of it. The child wonders at the changes which 
take place in nature just as he wonders at the force and the law 
back of all nature phenomena. Dr. Harris says that "the world 
seems very wonderful to the child when the principle of causality 
begins to act in his mind, and he wishes to know the why of things 
and events, wishes to learn in what sense they are means to some- 
thing else, in what sense they are results of something else." • 

The epoch when the human infant ceases to clutch objects only 
with the four fingers like most of the ape family, and learns to use 
his thumb over against his finger, is most important. This con- 
traction of the thumb began, Preyer's record shows, about the 
twelfth week. 

The soul is not determined by what lays outside it, but deter- 
mines itself so as to reproduce the beings and the causes that are 
outside of it. Each man has this one destiny, to sum up in him- 
self the life and deeds of the race. 

The period of infancy is dominated by what may be called the 
symbolic stage of mind. The symbolic stage is the identification of 



70 

the natural with the spiritual, and likewise a beginning of a dis- 
crimination of them. All objects are conceived as containing a 
spiritual meaning. 

What we call the directive power on the part of man, his com- 
bining and organizing power, rests on this power to see beyond the 
real things before the senses to the ideal possibilities invisible to 
the brute. 

In speaking of the symbolic stage of mind Dr. Harris makes 
the following division: 

1. Personification; the placing of a soul in a thing; animism. 

2. Metaphor; the elevation of thing to a spiritual meaning 
(thing to soul, as personification makes soul to thing). 

3. Play; one thing substituted for another; ''make believe 
this stick is a horse"; ''I have built a house with these 
blocks," etc. 

4. The unconscious symbolic in poetry and mythology. It 
uses typical characters, showing the human in the forms of 
animals in fairy stories and fables. 

The child delights in fairy tales because they sport with the 
fixed conditions of actuality and present to him a picture of free 
power over nature and circumstances. 

"To modify, change, or destroy the limits of common actual- 
ity," as Rosenkranz says, is the perpetual work of the race. It 
molds the external world to suit its own ideas. Play is the first 
education that the child gets to prepare him for this human des- 
tiny. 

After the symbolic stage of mind comes what is called the con- 
ventional. In his first stages of using language the child is just 
in the symbolic stage of culture, and the kindergart<jn is exactly 
the kind of instruction best adapted to him. At the age of seven 
years, or in the beginning of the seventh year in some cases, the 
child has acquired this sense of higher individuality. The child 
has, in fact, arrived at a point where he needs instruments of self- 
help ; he needs to master the conventionalities of human learning ; 
he needs to learn how to read and write, and how to record the 
results of arithmetic. 

The child now feels the impulse of duty. Self-subordination 
to reasonable tasks is no longer play. He has arrived at the transi- 
tion from play to work. 

It is very important not to force on the child, in the symbolic 
stage of his culture — say from four to six years of age — the ideals 
of others in the details of his work, for that will produce arrested 
development and he will not have the vivid sense of personality 
that he should have. The kindergarten method encourages spon- 
taneity and thus protects the fountains of his originality. 

In Preyer's ''Mind of the Child" the following epochs are men- 
tioned as being very important: 

1. First look of attention on the thirty-ninth day. 

2. Noticing and giving attention to the ticking of a watch in 
the ninth week. 

3. Holding up his head by the act of will in the eleventh 
week. 

4. Standing alone in the forty-eighth week. 



71 • 

5. Walking in the fiftieth week. 

6. Recognition of its mother on the sixty-first day. 

7. Recognition of its own image in a mirror in the sixth 
month — stretching out its hand to the image; also recog- 
nizing his father's image, and turning to look at the real 
father and compare him to the image. 

8. In the seventeenth week is noticed the first recognition of 
self — by attention to his own hand — and six weeks later 
an elaborate series of experiments of touching himself and 
foreign objects alternately, 

9. The discovery of itself as cause when it can produce sound 
by rattling paper or tearing it, which is a most delightful 
discovery to the child. 

10. Imitation, which began about fifteenth week. 

Quotations. 

**My own dim life shall teach me this, 
That life shall live forevermore 
Else earth is darkness at the core 
And dust and ashes all that is." 

In MemoricMi — Tennyson. 
"There is no death; what seems so is transition; 

This life of mortal breath 
Is but a suburb of the life Elysian 

Whose portal we call death." —Longfellow. 

"My heart is awed within 

Me when I think 
Of the great miracle 

That still goes on 
In silence, round me — 

The perpetual work 
Of thy creation- — finished. 

Yet renewed forever." —Bryant. . 

"Sow an act and you reap a habit. 

Sow a habit and you reap a character. 

Sow a character and you reap a destiny." 
"All nature feels the enervating force of winter. 

Only through the thoughtless is ruin seen ; 

The frost contracted glebe, draws in abundant vegetable soul 
: And gathers vigor, for the coming year." 

"The future is nothing — - 

But the past is myself, my own history, the seed of my pres- 
ent thoughts, the mold of my present disposition. It is not in vain 
that I return to the nothings of my childhood, for every one of 
them has left some stamp upon me. In the past is my present 
faith." — Robert Louis Stevenson. 

"In our moral judgments on individuals it is very necessary to 
consider, not merely where they fell short, but also what they posi- 
tively achieved or endeavored. Granted a ship comes into harbor 
with shrouds and tackle damaged, the pilot is blameworthy. He 
has not been all wise and all powerful, but to know how blame^ 
worthy tell us first whether his voyage has been around the globe 
or only to Ramsgate or the Isle of Dog." — Carlyle. . 



72 

"1. Never yet was a springtime late tho' lingered the snow 

That the sap stirred not at the whisper of the south wind, 

sweet and low; 
Never yet was a springtime when the buds forgot to grow. 
2. Ever the wings of the summer are folded under the mould 

Life has known no dying; its love's to have and to hold . 

Till sudden the bourgeaning, the song! the green, and the 

gold!" 
"Come what, come will 

What once lives never dies — what here attains 
To a beginning has no end, still gains 
J And never loses aught, when, where, and how 

; Lies, in love's lap. What's death, then? Even now 

With so much knowledge, is it hard to bear 
Brief interposing ignorance? Is care 
For a creation found at fault just there — 
There where the heart breaks loud and outruns time 
. To reach, not follow what shall be?" — Browning, 

"All that is, lasts ever past recall." — Browning. 

] "There is no end, for every end is only a new beginning." 

"We shape ourselves with joy or fear. 

Of which the coming life is made, 
And fill our future's atmosphere 

With sunshine or with shade," — Unknown, 

"The tissues of the life to be 

We weave with colors all our own. 
And in the field of destiny 

We reap as we have sown." — Whittier, 

Questions. 

L 1. Describe play and tell upon what interest of the child it is 
based. Give some illustrations of early impression. 

2. Why is Froebel's choice of this particular subject a good 
one? 

IL Underlying principle of play. 

1. Discuss on physical side. 

2. Discuss on mental side. 

3. Discuss on moral side. 
On physical side quote song. On mental side give quotations 

from James and Thorndike; also application of this principle to 
kindergarten. On moral side give relation to Falling, Falling. How 
do we give this early moral training? Give law of habit. Illustra- 
tions from James on habit and continuity of development, also from 
Education of a man. Give kindergarten application. 

III. How is this principle of continuity of life illustrated in 
nature? ^ 

1. Of what are these changes symbolic? 

2. What is relation of this play to weather-vane play? 

IV. Give as full an outline as possible of a year's nature work 
in kindergarten, showing continuity. 

Give list of stories, songs and games and references in connec- 
tion with the different subjects. 



^ PART VII 



\ 



LESSON XIII 



of 



Home Study Course 



of 



Mothers Kindergarten School 



Copyright 1914 

MOTHERS KINDERGARTEN SCHOOL 
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI 



LESSON XIII 



MOTHER PLAY V. 



MOTHER PLAY GROUP. 



RELATIONSHIP 



The Family (center of the group). 
The Nest. 
Pigeon House. 
The Greeting. 

"THE FAMILY^' (CENTER OF GROUP). 

''Early the child divines aright, 
That several parts in one whole unite; 
Then the family circle show — 
Let him every member know." 

Song. 

''This is the grandmama; 

This is the grandpapa ; 

This is the father; 

This is the mother; 

This is mother's child so dear; 

Now we have all the family here. 

This is the mother, good and dear; 

This is the father, with hearty cheer; 

This is the brother, stout and tall; 

This is the sister, that plays with her doll; 

And this is the little one, pet of all. 

Behold the good family, great and small. 

Who with thoughtful care and one in will 

Work well and true joy's cup to fill." 
As we go down the scale of life we find no such thing as 
motherhood — we find a world cold with motherless children and 
heartless with childless mothers. We find no relationship, no care 
for young, no love — in fact, very, very few of the altruistic virtues. 
And for this there are three reasons: First, one mother often 
had millions of children and of course it was an utter impossibility 
to ''m,other" so many, and so they were created independent from 
the moment of birth. Second, there was no resemblance between 
parent and child, and the mother did not know nor could she recog- 
nize her own offspring. And third, the child had no need for a 
mother; its whole life was one of instinct. Of course, in each in- 
stance, even in the lowest forms of life, there was blind precaution, 
but no consciousness. However, as we go gradually up the scale 
of life we find nature preparing for motherhood. Drummond says 



75 

that ''Nature aspired from the first to mothers; that the goal of 
the whole plant and animal kingdoms seems to have been the 
creation of a family, and this was the most stupendous task Evolu- 
tion ever undertook." 

In order to accomplish her end, Nature had to eliminate the 
three causes for no motherhood. She had to diminish the number 
of young produced at birth and make the number so small that 
they could be "mothered" ; she had to make it possible for parent 
to recognize its young, for if it was difficult to love a million it was 
impossible to love an embryo, and so children had to be made 
presentable at birth and to resemble parents ; lastly, she had to 
make child dependent on mother by lengthening the period of in- 
fancy, and "this imperceptibly slow drawings together of parent 
and child are the inevitable preliminaries of the Domestication of 
the Human Race." There is one other reason that might be given 
as a t'hing accomplished by nature in order to aid her, and that is 
the mother was finally compelled physically to seek her child and 
nourish it. "On the physiological side, the name of this impelling 
power is lactation; on the ethical side, it is love," and there is no 
escape henceforth from communion between mother and child ex- 
cept death. 

When the physical program had been carried out to the last 
detail, the ethical drama opened, and through the instrumentality 
of the first savage mother v/as founded a new and beautiful social 
state — "Domesticity." "While man, restless, eager and hungry, is 
a wanderer on the earth, woman makes a home. And though this 
home be but a platform of sticks and leaves such as the gorilla 
builds on a tree, it becomes the first great school-room of the 
human race. For one day there appears in this roofless room that 
which is to teach the teachers of the world — a Little Child. No 
greater day ever dawned for Evolution than this on which the 
first human child was born. For there entered into the world the 
one thing wanting to complete the Ascent of Man — a tutor for the 
affections. It may be that a mother teaches a child, but in a. far 
deeper sense it is the child who teaches the mother." Millions of 
millions of mothers had lived in the world before this, but the 
higher affections were unborn. Tenderness, gentleness, unselfish- 
ness, love, care, self-sacrifice— ^these as yet were not, or were only 
in the bud. Maternity existed in humble forms, but not yet mother- 
hood. To create motherhood and all that enshrines itself in that 
holy word required a human child. 

From what has just been said it is easy to see the connection 
and close relationship between the development of motherhood and 
that of the altruistic virtues. Love had no chance until the human 
mothers came. Drummond describes the development of the above 
very cleverly. He says: "Begin at the beginning and recall the 
fact of woman's passive strain. A tendency to passivity means, 
among other things, a capacity to sit still. Be it but for a minute 
\ or an hour does not matter; the point is that the faintest possible 
capacity is there. For this is the embryo of Patience, and if much 
and long nursed a fully fledged Patience will come out of it. Sup- 
ply next to this new virtue some definite object on which to prac- 
tice, let us say a child. When this child is in trouble the mother 



76 

will observe the signs of pain. Its cry will awaken associations, 
and in some dull sense the mother will feel with it. But feeling 
with another is the literal translation of the name of a second 
virtue — Sympathy. From feeling with it the parent will sooner or 
later be led to do something to help it; then it will do more things 
to help it; finally it will always be helping it. Now to care for 
things is to become Careful; to tend things is to become Tender. 
Here are four virtues — Patience, Sympathy, Carefulness, Tender- 
ness — already dawning upon mankind." 

It is hard to realize how much was accomplished with the 
lengthening of the period of infancy, but it is certain that with it 
came a greater civilization. John Fiske was one of the first to 
realize this, and Drummond says that the world owes to him one 
of the most beautiful contributions ever made to Evolution of Man. 
We know that this lengthened period means ethically that the 
longest possible time was necessary for the moral training of the 
human child by its mother's side. But it has still another very 
great meaning — it means the addition of a wonderful piece of ma- 
chinery — the brain, the human brain. No other animal has as 
long a period of infancy as the human infant because their brains 
are not so intricate and delicate — they are easier made, quicker 
developed, and only required to do the life-work of an animal, 
while the brain of the infant is much more complex, requires much 
longer to develop and has to do the life-work of a man. Drum- 
mond says: ''Infancy, physiologically considered, means the fit- 
ting up of this extra machinery within the brain; and according 
to its elaborateness will be the time required to perfect it." He 
also says that "as we rise in the scale of civilization the necessary 
period of Infancy lengthens step by step until in the case of the 
most highly educated man, where adjustments must be made to a 
wide intellectual environment, the age of tutelage extends for al- 
most a quarter of a century." 

The family has been the basis for all social relationship from 
the day a human child was born. Evolution progressed as high as 
it aimed when man was made, and the next step was to develop 
man spiritually and cease to develop him physically, and in order 
to do this nature made the family her starting point, her training 
school of affections and altruistic virtues. Let us take for example 
the most primitive people, still uncouth and uncivilized, mere sav- 
ages, yet humans — the hunters. (I might explain here that civiliza- 
tion is classified in four stages of advancement; first the hunters, 
then the shepherds, agriculturists and tradesmen.) Did the hunt- 
ers know the meaning of the word "family"? Most assuredly. The 
social unit was the family with the father and mother at the head 
of it, and we may attribute "sympathetic relations with fire" as 
one of the chief means of bringing about this result. The mother 
was forced to remain where the fire was and keep it going, for fire 
was a very precious thing. Owing to the hard life of the hunter, 
the traveling, trapping and shooting, the children must be kept 
with the mother. And so we find the father returning after the 
day's hunt to the fire, which was the first home, and which meant 
wife and children. As civilization progressed with the hunters they 
realized the protection to be gained by living and traveling to- 



77 

gether in numbers, and so the clan was established. Here the unit 
of social organization was blood relationship. When a man mar- 
ried he went to his wife's house to live instead of her going to his. 
This made a clan a group of related women with their husbands 
and children. Of course, this made the women more important, 
and among the Indians they could even hold offices on the council. 
This was true not only of the Indians, but of most the European 
peoples. Then the tribe, which consisted of several clans, was or- 
ganized, but always the family stood out as the keynote. 

The next step in civilization was shepherd life, and here the 
unit of social organization was once more the family. The sons 
married and brought their wives home. The father was the head 
of the family. This made a group of related men with their 
wives and children. Such a family is called Patriarchal. 

Agriculture was the third advancement in civilization, and 
here the social unit of organization was the family, with the father 
and mother at the head of it. Polygamy was unheard of, and when 
a couple married they started a home of their own. The form of 
government was generally democratic. 

The last step was that of tradesmen, and that is the complex 
civilization so well known to us today. There is no need to write 
on our own family life; it is almost too sacred to put dov/n in 
black and white. However, as we glance back through the ages we 
realize that from the very first indeed *'the family and not the 
individual have been the unit of tribal life; and as families grew 
more and more definite they became the recognized pier of the 
social structure and gave a first stability to the race of men." 

Drummond says that "not for centuries but for millenniums 
the Family has survived. Time has not tarnished it; no later art 
has improved upon it; nor genius discovered anything more lovely, 
nor religion anything more divine. Ethical changes begin almost 
the moment it is formed. Physically, psychically, ethically, the 
Family is the masterpiece , of Evolution. It is the generator and 
the repository of the forces which alone can carry out the social 
and moral progress of the world." 

Knowing this to be a fact, all we have to do is to look around 
the world in order to prove it. The leading nations today are those 
where the family life is reverenced and is the unit of social organ- 
ization. For example, India does not hold family life as dear; 
the mother is not respected, and is often mistreated; the children 
are not loved and cherished until they are of age, but often cast 
off before they are twelve years old. Here civilization is backward; 
the Hindoos have not developed ethically as other nations; they 
rank low in the scale of advancement. Contrast America with 
India. Here the family is the unit of social life; it is the keynote 
of the nation ; the children are loved and cherished not only for 
a few years, but as long as they live the mother is loved by all; 
the father is respected, and America ranks among the leading 
nations of the world. 

Froebel says that "Family life alone secures the development 
and cultivation of a good heart and of a thoughtful, gentle disposi- 
tion in their full intensity and vigor, so incomparably important 
for every period of growth, nay, for the whole life of man. Man, 



78 

even in childhood, refers everything to family life, and beholds 
everything through family life. For the child, therefore, the life 
of his own family becomes itself an external thing and a type of 
life. Parents should consider this fact, that the child in his own 
life would fain represent this type in the purity, harmony and 
efficiency in which he sees it." ''Only the quiet, secluded sanctuary 
of the family can give back to us the welfare of mankind." Judg- 
ing from these remarks of Froebel, a great deal depends upon the 
family. The future nation, as well as the present one, depends 
upon the family life. Here it is the child will get his first impres- 
sions and knowledge of love, unselfishness, kindness, thoughtfulness, 
tenderness, and all the other altrusitic virtues. Here will come to 
him the first gleanings of authority, obedience, law, trust and fel- 
lowship. In order to specify, take for example one child and one 
family. He learns first to love his mother; then gradually this 
love, if cherished, expands and includes every member of the 
family. As he grows older it includes companions, then the neigh- 
borhood, finally the community, and then all mankind. In order 
for this love to develop and expand the child becomes unselfish, 
thoughtful, kind and considerate, and what could be a better prep- 
aration for future citizenship ! He realizes that his parents are 
authority and he respects them; he becomes obedient, and there- 
fore must abide by their laws ; and underneath all is a deep-seated 
feeling of trust and confidence in the ones who are authority. Is 
not this the foundation of good citizenship? All this the family 
offers and much more. Through it he can receive a religious 
training, and a training in industry, and these bear directly and 
indirectly upon his future life as a citizen. Froebel says that the 
three things which influenced his life the most were his early re- 
ligious training, early contact with nature and early training in 
industry. 

The relationship between the school and the family should be 
much closer than it is. Parents and teachers should co-operate 
more all through the school life, even through High School. The 
child spends the greater part of a day in school, and what he 
doesn't learn there he should be taught at home, and vice versa. 
Froebel says: "In the family the child grows up to boyhood and 
pupilage; therefore the school must link itself to the family. The 
union of the school and of life, of domestic and scholastic life, is 
the first and indispensable requisite of a perfect human education 
of this period. The union of family and school life is the indis- 
pensable requisite of the education of this period, if men, indeed, 
are ever to free themselves from the oppressive burden and empti- 
ness of merely extraneously communicated knowledge, heaped up in 
memory." 

The family mother-play is in a sense the basic one for pro- 
gram work in the kindergarten, because it stands for so much. 
Everything radiates from this center because the child has never 
known any other. The family thought is back of everything be- 
cause the child is most interested in it. And we can do nothing of 
any more value to the child than to deepen this feeling for home 
and family, and tighten the bonds so they can never snap. In 
kindergarten all through the year, in every case, our subjects are 



79 

related to family life. Beginning in the fall with the child's 
family, we let him dramatize "what mother does." We soon take 
up animal families, though, because they are just far enough away 
from child for him to observe and learn a great deal. (His own 
life is too close and plant life is too far away.) The cat and dog 
family come first. Then the pigeons and their family life. The 
squirrels and their family life; the nuts and the ''mother tree"; 
seeds and the mother plant; Thanksgiving with the family and its 
feeling of thankfulness ; Christmas time, when child can give his ex- 
pression of love in some gift for one of the family (or others). In 
midwinter our work is the broadening of the family life into the 
community life, and the independence of the trades and the de- 
pendence of each individual upon others. Later when we take up 
the knight work the family is once more at the starting point, and 
here it is the Cedric or Siegefried learns many loving, chivalrous 
things. In the awakening of nature the family is the point 
through which we seek to personify the various plants, etc., and in 
the study of birds the family life is the vital point, the keynote of 
all interesting subjects. This is the ideal of all family life and 
the children are intensely interested. ''You feel that there is no 
single object in Nature which has more power to lift a child's 
dreaming presentiment into waking consciousness than a bird's 
nest." 



ti 



THE NEST." 



SYMPATHY 



"The child is filled with joy on viewing 
Some form of what in life he loves. 
And never wearies of renewing 
The image that his fancy moves. 
Thus he retains the memory clear 
Of what in life he holds most dear." 

Song. 



(( 



In the hedgerow, safely shielded, 

Little bird a nest has builded; 

Two little eggs has laid therein. 

Two little birds to cry begin, 

Calling the mother, pip, pip, pip! 

Mother dear, pip! mother dear, pip! 

Dear, oh, so dear, pip! Dear, oh, so dear, pip!" 



80 



"PIGEON HOUSE." 



CONTINUITY. 

"What to the child gives inward joy, 
He loves to represent in play. 
The dove flies away from his little home; 
The child through the green field loves to roam. 
The little dove comes back at night; 
The child, too, keeps his dear home in sight. 
Then all the life and all the play 
That filled the long and happy day, 
All he has found, all he has seen. 
He loves at home to rehearse again; 
And all these joys, together bound. 
Now in a varied wreath are wound." 

Song. 

I open my pigeon house; 

Out fly all the pigeons once more let loose. 

Away to the broad green fields they fly; 

They pass the day right merrily, 

And when they come back to rest at night. 

Again I close my pigeon house tight." 

In the pigeon house mother-play the first verse of the motto 
is the reverse of the weather-vane play. Baldwin gives three 
stages of infancy or childhood — the projective, subjective and 
ejective. In the weather-vane play the child is in the second or 
subjective stage, while in this play he is in the third or ejective 
stage. 

This mother-play of the pigeons is an especially good one 
because pigeons are so easily observed and are familiar to many 
children; also because they have a house like the child's own home, 
because mother pigeon is such a good mother, and because father 
pigeon shares almost equally the work of raising the young. 
Pigeons have soft voices, too, and seem to talk to each other and 
be so affectionate. They have two nests at a time, and this is 
exceedingly interesting to the children. The young take their 
nourishment from the parent bird, either one; after he swallows 
food and it is taken into the crop and partly digested. The young 
reach down and get it out and so for all these reasons the pigeon 
family offers a very good illustration of family life. 

This play emphasizes especially the spiritual side, and Froebel 
says: "It is never too early to begin the nature of spiritual life. 
Such nature may, however, be begun in a wrong way. The mis- 
take lies not in the 'when,' but in the 'how.' Force a premature 
development of spiritual life and it will be weak and distorted; 
retard it unduly and it will lack freedom, expansiveness and 
grace." So we find the danger in giving the child early spiritual 



81 

training, in forcing it upon, teaching it to him and pointing out 
the moral lessons instead of letting him get these ideas himself. 
Robert Ingersoll is a good example of a child who received the very 
kind of religious training Froebel protests so strongly against. His 
parents were very strict "Christian" people and forced their re- 
ligion upon the child too young. He was obliged to attend church 
when he could not understand a word, and when he was so small 
that his little legs would ache from the hanging and unchanging 
position. As a consequence he grew to hate such an exacting and 
cruel God to little children and religion to him meant torture. The 
result was a distorted and unexpanded life and one of the greatest 
infidels the world has ever known. 

The importance of developing an interchange of confidence be- 
tween parents and children cannot be overestimated. Froebel says 
in the verses to his Pigeon House Mother Play: 

''Glad outgoing, sweet home-coming. 

In this little game they see; 
At the real home-comings, mother. 
Gather them about your knee; 

Ask them of each sight and happening 

In the quiet twilight hour; 
Help them weave it all together 

Life a garland, flower to flower." 

The mother should encourage each child to tell the happenings 
of the day and she should be intensely interested in what they have 
to tell her. In this way she can learn a great deal about her own 
child that may surprise her, and perhaps if she has something to 
tell in exchange it will make the bond much stronger. ''A story 
told at the right time is a looking glass for the mind." Each mem- 
ber of the family should be interested in all the others and the 
mother should bring this out every day. The school life has 
changed a very great deal in the last fifty years because our large 
cities, in fact all our cities, have become so congested. Many 
things have been crow^ded out of the homes and into the school. 
The child now has to get most of the home activities at school, and 
where he formerly had the companionship of his mother while 
learning these, he does not have it now. He gets much more in 
proportion at school than he does at home, and for these reasons 
the mother should encourage him to tell her of his day's lessons 
and experiences in order that she may share his life. 

Because life is so complex mxembers of the family are apt to 
grow apart as they grow older. Often each member will have his 
own personal friends, and all his companionship and interchange 
of confidence will be with them. He will feel as though other 
members of the family are as busv and concerned with their owm 
affairs as he is, consequently he will have little to talk over. Meal- 
time with such a family is little better than a boarding house, and 
not at all what it should be. The coming together of a family at 
mealtimes should be such an interesting and pleasing event that it 
would stand out in the memory as one of the treasures of the past. 



82 

never to be obliterated. The family should all sit down together, 
and, as the meal progresses, talk things over and exchange confi- 
dences. This will broaden each one, and furnishes an opportunity 
to tighten the bonds of family life as few things can when the 
children are older. ] 

"THE GREETING." 



Morality. 



"The child will play with his fingers still, 
While strength is thus gained by fingers and will." 

Song. 

'Thumbs and fingers. 

Say good morning; 

First and middle, 

Least of all, too. 

Say good morning. 
So all with graceful and courteous bowing, 
All greeting and honor on you are bestowing." 

When the child becomes conscious of his different limbs avoid 
vacuity of mind by awakening the soul to the inner life of surround- 
ing objects. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. Give in brief Drummond's account of the development of 
motherhood. (Found in his "Ascent of Man.") 

2. Give the relationship between this development and that of 
the altruistic virtues. 

3. Give John Fiske's theory of the relationship between the 
lengthened period of infancy and that of a high state of 
civilization. (Destiny of Man.) 

4. Show how historically the family has been the basis of all 
social relationship, leading to clan, tribal and eventually to 
our own complex interrelationship. — Dapp. 

5. What is the relationship now between the moral standards of 
any nation and the character of its family life? 

6. Show how true family Ijfe prepares for good citizenship — 
specifically. 

7. What relationship should be between the school and the 
family ? 

8. Tell why the family mother play is in a sense the basic one 
for program work in the kindergarten. Trace back in every 
case, all through the year, subjects and their relationship to 
the family life. 

9. In what way is first verse of the motto to the Pigeon House 
the reverse to the Weather Vane motto. 

10. Reasons why the pigeon family offers a good illustration of 
family life. 

11. Importance of developing an interchange of confidence be- 
tween parents and children. 

12. Dangers of members of the family growing apart and what 
mother can do to prevent it. 



83 



BOOKS OF REFERENCE. 

Froebel's ''Education of Man." 

Froebel's ''Mother Play." 

Dapp's "Place of Industries in the School." 

Herbartson's "Man and His Work." 

John Fiske's "Destiny of Man." 

Henry Drummond's "Ascent of Man," 

"Psychology of Infancy," by Dr. Harris. 

"Talks to Teachers," by James. 

Angell's Psychology. 

"Biography of a Baby," by Miss Shinn. 

"A Study in Child Nature," by Elizabeth Harris. 

Baldwin's "Social and Ethical Development." • 



I 



PART VIII 



LESSON XIV 



of 



Home Study Course 



of 



Mothers Kindergarten School 



Copyright 1914 

MOTHERS KINDERGARTEN SCHOOL 
KANSAS CITY. MISSOURI 



LESSON XIV 



MOTHER PLAYV 



TRADES PLAY GROUP. 



Activity. 



Grass Mowing. 

Pancake. 

Beckoning the Chickens. 

Beckoning the Pigeons. 

Farmyard Gatie. 

Little Gardener. 

"GRASS MOWING" (Center of Group). 

**Err in relations with the child recall 

The truth that unity exists in all ; 

Without it all thy efforts aimless are, , 

Nor can the child for .higher truths prepare. 

A hint of , this already thou art showing 
^ In this pleasant little game, 'Grass Mowing.' 

Song. 

"Hasten to the meadow, Peter! 
Mow the grass, what can be sweeter! 
Bring us home the fragrant fodder 
For the cow, for m.ilk and butter. 
Cow is in the barnyard straying — 
Milk her now without delaying. 
Cow the good, rich milk is giving; 
Milk and bread are baby's living. 
Let us grateful be for labors 
Bringing us so many favors. 
Hasten to the meadow, Peter! 
Mow the grass, what can be sweeter! 
Thank thee, Peter, for the mowing; 
Thank thee, cow, the milk bestowing; 
For the milking, thank our Molly; 
Baker, for the rolls so jolly; 
For the supper, thank mama— - 
So no thanks forgotten are." 



87 

The child is facing the mother and may be either standing or 
sitting. He extends his arms forward from the elbow, with palms 
down and fingers bent as if ready to seize a rod or a stick. The 
mother does the same way, only her palms are turned upwards, and 
she seizes the baby's bent fingers with hers. Then she gives his 
arms a left to right movement that ''somewhat resembles that made 
in mowing grass." This play is a good physical movement for a 
little child because big co-ordinations must be made before it is 
possible to make little ones; then, too, ''the movement exercises the 
elbow joint and increases the child's power to stand in an upright 
position." 

The underlying principle of this play is the great subject of 
interdependence, which is one of the fundamental things in our 
kindergarten work. In this play Froebel most clearly and forcibly 
brings out interdependence, relationship and unity. It is a subject 
which is quite essential that all children should feel most keenly, 
and childhood is the age to arouse sympathies, to establish fellow- 
ship and to lay the foundation for the feeling of unity and depend- 
ence. This play brings out this subject best because the steps in it 
can be so easily traced for a little child and he can see so clearly 
how one person depends upon another and how he is dependent 
upon them all. This is especially true of children who are of kin- 
dergarten age. 

This play is related to the "All Gone" mother play because 
the child's food is used in both cases. In the "All Gone" play the 
child was interested in his food and what it did for him ; how it 
gave him strength, and made him grow. He w^as interested in 
cause and efliect so to speak, but he was too young (two years) to 
be interested in where the food came from or how it came.' In this 
"Mowing Grass" play the child's food is again the keynote of in- 
terest, but as he is older (four or five years) the subject is broad- 
ened and an explanation of where the food came from is now 
quite essential. He has grown from interest in food and what it 
does to where it comes from and how. As Froebel took the child's 
interest in his food in the "All Gone" mother play as the basis for 
the great principle of continuity, so he takes it here again with an 
older child as the basis for interdependence and social relationship. 
Through this interest in big things we can lead the child to interest 
in smaller things. 

It is difficult to contrast Pestalozzi methods of education with 
those of Froebel in a few brief words, for we are indebted to each 
for a very great deal. With Pestalozzi the great word was sense 
impression; with Froebel the great word was self-expression. Pesta- 
lozzi based his methods of instruction upon object lessons, and in- 
sisted from the tenderest age the child must be practiced in atten- 
tive observation, in discerning between what is accidental and 
essential, and must be guarded against all merely playful inspection. 
The object lesson was the care of the method and was the real 
basis for the entire mental development of the child. No stress 
was laid whatever upon considering objects and events in the whole 
of life or in particular relation to the child; his interests were a 
matter of small importance. Froebel took the same starting point 
as Pestalozzi and worked back to the character of child nature as 



88 

revealed in an earlier period of unorganized sensations. Froebel 
believed in a great deal of sense training, but he also believed it 
should be related to the child and of interest to him — not just 
knowledge, but spiritual enlightenment. Froebel believed that 
''nothing is more dangerous to the health of the intellect, nothing 
is more prejudicial to the cultiire of the heart, than the habit of 
looking at particular objects and events in detachment from the 
great whole of life." Unity and continuity are the two points which 
he emphasized so strongly. He encouraged "playful inspection," 
and through it found a clue to the child's mind. Unless a subject 
was related to the child or to his past life it was avoided until 
later, and according to the law of Association, found in our psych- 
ologies of today, Froebel was absolutely right, though quite the 
opposite of Pestalozzi in more than one instance. 

The steps in the chain, which Froebel speaks of in this grass 
mowing play, are first the man mowing the grass, to make the hay 
for the cow; then the milkmaid milking the cow; when she has 
finished she takes it to the mother, who gives it to the child. Butj 
first of all comes the Heavenly Father, v/ho sends the sun and rain, J 
and in all our trade plays we go back or start with the Heavenly 
Father and so get a spiritual meaning. In our work with the 
farmer we do not care so much if the child gets minute details, but 
there are certain spiritual things which we want him to feel. Most 
of all we want him to feel the dependence on the Heavenly Father, 
and to be thankful. 

Froebel indicates several different ways through his picture as 
to how to bring the subject to the children. Through imitation, 
through pictures, through observation and through participation, 
the child gets ideas of activity and trades, and the value of each 
is indefinite. Take first the value of pictures to the child — it is 
next best to the real thing and a child will often get more out of it 
than a story. Froebel says that ''You may achieve, by making a 
judicious choice of pictures, representing various activities of farm, 
garden and trade, by showing them in their natural and logical 
order, and by connecting them with short and graphic stories of the 
life they portray — you may achieve a connection between different 
objects and acts." A good picture will often give a child a much 
clearer image than several stories, and often makes a much more 
lasting impression. If his eye is attracted to a good picture he 
will see and feel things he could get in no other way. In presenting 
subjects to children we should try to get large, simple, natural pic- 
tures, full of life and activity. They should be hung low. They 
should be in continuity and related, and if there is a little boy or 
girl in a picture so child can be related to it, his interest will be 
increased. The picture which accompanies this play is a family 
picture and refers to the family again, all working together to ac- 
complish some end. Much may be gotten out of such a picture and ' 
lessons taught that would fit in nowhere else quite so well. Mothers 
should have pictures of all simple activities and interdependence 
trade pictures hanging in the nursery, for the child's education in 
art begins with these first simple pictures and is just as important 
as his first lessons in literature. Taste is being cultivated and who 
can say just how much these first pictures have aided. 



89 

Child can get from observing, a very great deal, but before 
going to observe some activity or some particular object we should 
show him pictures of it and point out the thing we wish to impress 
the deepest. We should tell him what to look for, and talk about it 
before we start. If in our talk there are a few indefinite questions 
that "we are not certain about," but are ''going to find out for 
sure," it will sort of focalize the child's attention, and give him 
some definite things to find out for himself through observation. 
Each time such an excursion is made with some definite object in 
view the powers of observation are increased — it may be slightly, 
but even the slightest bit is worth while. If the child has some 
image before he starts he will be more liable to see things connected 
with it, and it will thus be m.ade clearer. This going to observe 
something, however, should not be strictly business — there should be 
a certain amount of pleasure in order to gain the best results. 

On the side of imitative activity is the next step forward — 
before the child can imitate he must have image, he must have 
watched and observed. Then the natural thing for him to do is 
imitate because he is trying instinctively to understand it — to enter 
into it, become a part of it. We use this imitative instinct in 
kindergarten when we cannot take child to real thing. We also 
have them dramatize their image in order to see if they have cor- 
rect ones. We tell our stories very clearly and simply and take up 
only the big and active things, then we have children play them out 
and review them thusly. It is very important that child should 
share in these processes, because he then makes them a part of 
himself and they give him confidence in himself. He also learns to 
do things with others, which is quite essential. 

The value of participation is very great to the child. He ap- 
preciates a thing more by partaking of the labor which produced it. 
Participation helps him to feel that he is of some value to his 
parents, to his associates and to humanity, and such a feeling is 
highly essential. ^ It also helps him to understand the thing he is 
participating in, much better, and helps him to find the power and 
the strength within himself. Froebel says in his Education of Man 
that 'Tf you repel a child's help as childish, useless, of little avail, 
or even as a hindrance, you destroy at one blow, at least for a long 
time, the instinct of formative activity." ''Do not let the urgency 
of your business tempt you to say, 'Go away, you only hinder me,' 
or 'I am in a hurry, leave me alone.' After a third rebuff of this 
character, scarcely any child will again propose to help and share 
the work. He becomes fretful and dull, even when he sees his 
parents engaged in work which he might share." "Strengthen and 
develop this instinct; give to your child the highest he now needs; 
permit him to add his power to your work, so that he may not only 
gain the consciousness of his power, but learn to appreciate its 
limitations." In the Commentary, Froebel says, "As your child 
grows older you should let him plant his own garden, gather his 
own harvest of fruit and flowers, learn through his own small ex- 
perience, something of the influence of sun, dew, and rain, and 
gain thereby a remote presentment of all the reciprocal energies of 
nature and a reverent feeling for the divine life and law expressed 



90 

caring for them he learns responsibility and forethought. 

The right kind of family life gives the child the very best kind 
of social training. It is there that he first feels responsibility and 
that he must contribute his share, and must give and take. In 
school life this social side of his nature is still carried on. He has 
his part just like all the others. School life is even better than 
home life for this training because here he is on an equality and is 
treated accordingly, while at home he looks up to older people and 
the younger look up to him. In kindergarten we emphasize this 
equality very much; every one must share and share alike, and this 
is excellent training for the ''only, petted" child. There are differ- 
ent ways that we give children this training in kindergarten. There 
is the table-work, circle-work, and game period, and in learning to 
work together, act together, and cooperate together, children get a 
certain amount of social training that it would be impossible for 
them to get at home. Ihe very fact that they are freer than 
primary children means that they must adapt themselves even more. 
The general atmosphere of kindergarten is "all pulling together" 
and the ideal is service to others. Children should serve and feel 
importance of serving God and fellowmen. 

The child is so interested in this special phase of trade life 
because he sees something happening that he can understand. He 
sees the result and appreciates it. He would not be interested in a 
lawyer or doctor's activities because they require no manual labor 
and it is this that he likes. He is not even as interested in the 
blacksmith's activities as in the farmer's, because it does not carry 
him out so far, and because he cannot join in it as in farm work. 
He is also interested in the farm work because of the connection 
with animal life, plant life and all nature. The whole set of it, 
that is, the great out-of-doors, appeals to him and so we find him 
intensely interested in the farmer and his work. 

In giving the child this farm work we strive to give him a 
feeling of dependence and interdependence, and this special play is 
very good to use. In fact, it is one of the best subjects we can get 
for interdependence, first, because the child is so intensely inter- 
ested, his food, being the center of attention, and manual activities 
being so evident; and, second, because the steps can so clearly be 
shown the child and the feeling of interdependence can be felt and 
understood. Then, too, this subject is a good one because so many 
different activities may be brought in; for example, sowing seed, 
cutting hay, stacking it on wagons, raking, plowing, etc., making 
butter, milking cows, etc. The child's understanding of all these 
things is very essential because they are the foundation of many 
things. However, there is danger in arousing this feeling of de- 
pendence and thankfulness, without an outlet, and we should always 
let the child express himself by doing something. ^ 

In programme work I would use this ''Grass-Mowing Play" as 
the basis for my farm work. I would take it up about the first of 
November and bring in the subjects fruit, vegetables, farm animals 
and grains, all in connection with the farmer. I would show the 
children pictures of the different farm activities and farm animals. 
Then tell them a series of stories centering around experiences on 



91 

in nature." Pets are another essential thing for childhood. In 
the farm at harvest time and further preparation for winter. There 
should be two children in the story so as to connect them with the 
child's interest. 

Quotations for Grass Mowing Play. 

''Cease the feud of hand and brain 
Tell me which is work exceeded, 
Who first made the duty plain, 
Or who best the duty heeded. 
No true worker, work in vain. 
Each shall have his wage again ; 
All are noble, all are needed." 

— William Thayer. 



"Not what we give but what we share. 
For the gift without the giver is bare. 
Who giveth himself with his alms feeds three, 
Himself, his hungry neighbor and me." 

— Lowell. 

Back of the loaf the snowy flour. 

Back of the flour, the mill, 
And back of the mill is the wheat and the shower. 

The sun and the Father's will. 

— Babcock. 

"For none of us liveth to himself 

And no man dieth to himself." 

"Bear ye one another's burdens, so fulfill the law of Christ." 

— Bible. 

"May every soul that toucheth thine 
Be it the slightest contact, 
Get therefrom some little good, 
Some little grace, one kindly thought. 
One inspiration yet unfelt. 
One bit of courage." — Unknotun. 

"Go make thy garden as fair as thou canst, 
Thou workest never alone. 
Perchance he whose plat is next to thine 
Will see it and mend his own." 

"So when two work together, each for each, 
Is quick to plan and can the other teach. 
But when alone one seeks the best to know 
His skill is weaker and his thoughts are slow. 

— Unknoivn. 

The most obvious lesson in Christ's teaching is that there is no 
happiness in having, in gettinpr — only in giving. Life consists in 
giving and in serving others. "He that would be great amono: you," 
said Christ, "let him serve." He that would be happy let him 
remember that there is but one way. It is more blessed, it is more 
happy, to give than to receive. — Henry Drummond. 



92 

*'The sovereignty of service is seen not in self-aggregation but 
tor the cultivation of self for the benefits of others." — Peabody. 



"Every mason in the quarry, 

Every builder on the shore, 
Every woodman in the forest. 

Every boatman at the oar. 
Heaving wood and drawing water. 

Splitting stones and clearing sod. 
All the dusty ranks of labor 

In the regiment of God 
March together toward his temple. 

Do the tasks his hands prepare; 
Honest toil is holy service. 

Faithful work is praise and prayer." 

— UnknoiU7i. 

Songs. II 

''Over the River." 

"Mr. Duck and Mr. Turkey." 

"Beside the Barn-yard's Open Gate." 

"Come Little Leaves." 

"Father, We Thank Thee." 

"One Day as Mr. Squirrel Went Up the Tree to Bed." 

Verses. 

"The Bowl of Milk," by Emile Paulson. 

"Jack Frost." 

"An Apple Is Good for a Number of Things." 

"PAT-A-CAKE." 



u 



Unity 

Now my child would have us baking 

Little cakes of her own making. 

Pat the cake all smooth and broad. 

Baker says, 'Now, all aboard !' 

Bring the little cake to me, 

Soon my oven cold will be. . v 

Baker, here is the cake so fine, 

Bake it well for this child of mine! y 

Soon now the cake shall be golden brown, 

Deep in the oven I'll shove it down.' 



)> 



The physical value of the game is found to be the exercise of 
the elbow joints, though the attitude of the whole body and the 
position of the arms is quite beneficial to the child. The mother 
gives a great deal of training to the child unconsciously, and it is 



93 

well that she does. She should guard against being too conscious, 
and she should be careful to get enough play into her conscious 
training. 

We relate "Grass-mowing" and the Pat-a-Cake because the 
same tracing of food takes place. Both start with the same inter- 
est of the child in his food, and the interest here is probably even 
more, because the child likes his cake even better than his bread. 
Both of these plays take you back to original sources step by step, 
though this one is a little more intricate than the "Grass-mowing" 
play. Again, both are expressions of interdependent trades and 
this feeling is the underlying of each. 

This play of "Pat-a-Cake" relates itself to "Tick-Tack," through 
the importance of having the bread there on time, or the baker 
will be delayed, and everyone will have to wait as a consequence. 

"When several are engaged in labor, 
Each should try to please his neighbor. 
Each, his share, however small, 
Have ready at a moment's call, 
Only then the work may tell 
Of good result and prosper well." 

This little verse explains quite clearly the necessity of order 
and doing things at the proper time, and this rule may be applied 
to bread making as adequately as to any other phase of life. 

The picture which accompanies this play emphasizes the old 
German custom of sending bread to the bakers to be baked. No 



ti 



BECKONING THE CHICKENS." 



Nature. 



"What can lovelier be 
Than the children's simple play, 
To beckon with the little hand; 
To feel that all is rife 
With the stirring presence of life, 
And the child is one of a happy band?" 

Song. 

"Beckon to the chickens small, 
'Come, dear chickens, one and all.' " 

This play suggests to mother to let children have as much 
out-of-door life as possible, to let them come in contact with nature 
as soon and as much as possible. A child sees in animal life the 
love and protection of the mother. 

All children are intensely interested in animals because of 
their activity. 

Children are often cruel to animals because they like to assert 
their authority and demonstrate their strength. They are often 
cruel from a motive of curiosity also. 



94 



"BECKONING TO THE PIGEONS." 



Life. 



1i 






''No fancy coy, no ray of joy, ^ j 

Escapes the mother's watchful eye; 
Still quicker is she to discover 
When a shadow passes over/' 

Song. 

"The pigeons are coming, dear love, to meet you; 
Beckon them ; say, 'Dear pigeons, I greet you.' " 

This play is played at an earlier stage than the Pigeon House 
and Chicken Life. 

"FARMYARD GATE." 



Wisdom. 



"The mother in talk and play may teach 
Much that the child's mind cannot reach. 
Though all the good fruits we may seek in vain, ^ 

The child's life's dower this must remain. ^ 

Then early in life may he seek to treasure, 
And save from loss what now gives him pleasure." 

Song. 

"Oh! what is this? This is a gate 
Leading to the barnyard straight. 
There the pony is springing, hop, hop! 
The doves are there winging, kurr, kurr! 
The geese are all chattering, 
The ducks are all quacking. 
The chickens are peeping. 
The hen loudly clucks, pip, pip ! hi, hi, hi ! 
The bees are all humming, sum, sum. 
The mooly-cow lows, moo, moo! 
The calf is there playing. 
The little lamb straying. 
There bleateth the sheep, 
There grunteth the swine. 
The gate close fastened we must keep. 
Oh, why? Oh, why? That none may fly — 
Each keep to his own quarter nigh." 

The principle is to care for and to guard from loss that which j 
is dear to him. j 



95 



"LITTLE GARDENER." 



Nurture. 



''Wouldst thou the mind of the child for the cares of life unfold, 
Let him observe the life-scenes here unrolled; 
Wouldst thou for cares of inward life prepare him, 
Make sweet to him the life-cares that are near him." 

Song. 

"Now the garden beds are blooming, 
Water pot in hand we're coming, 
All the thirsty plants to sprinkle; 
All the buds begin 'to twinkle, 
Scatter now their perfumes rare. 
They open their petals one by one. 
They roll out their cups to the glowing sun. 
Rewarding all our tender care." 

This play is an especially good one because through the joy which 
comes of cherishing life the child is prepared for the higher and more 
spiritual forms of nurture. 

Used, more in Spring as basis for Programme work. 
"THE TOYMAN AND THE MAIDEN." 



Joy. 

'The child enjoys the toyman's treasure. 
And thou with the child hast equal pleasure." 

Song. 

"Take me, take me, mother, pray. 

To the toym.an's shope today. 

Tiny cupboards there we see, 

Dollies such a company! 

Tables, chairs, commodes combine 

To make the dolly's house so fine. 

The Christmas sale, it is today, 

And everything looks bright and gay. 

Oh, let me to the toyman go. 

And all my pretty things buy new." 
"Well pleased am I to have you go. 

And see the toyman's pretty show; 

Yet, ere we betake us there. 

Let me whisper in your ear: 

The daughter that I take with me 

Ever kind and good must be; 



96 

Thoughtful and polite to all; 

Cheerful, too, whate'er befall; 

For when she cross and fretful grows 

Quickly the mother's eyes shall close 

To all the pretty things around; 

Nothing to buy can then be found; 

And when the mother sees nothing to buy, 

Good Santa Glaus from the child shall fly." 
''Mother, dear, come, and you shall see 

How diligent, kind, polite I will be." 
''Toyman, tell me what I may choose 

For the diligent child to use." 
"Neat little spinning wheels I have 

For the daughters good and brave; 

Kitchens and their small knick-knacks. 

Trenchers, dishes, kitchen racks. 

All spick and span and polished fine. 

For the careful daughter of thine." 
"When Santa Glaus then comes this waj^ 

Tell him Amelia ,was here today ; 

He the pretty things may choose 

For her enjoyment and to use. 

When a good and willing child she is, 

Her wants and fancies we're glad to please." 

In kindergarten, we use the underlying principle of this game 
in our shop gift plays at Ghristmas time and in our "grocery store." 
We let children go to a toy store if possible, then play or drama- 
tize it. All the things the child may see will interest him greatly 
and he won't want to handle them when there are so many, but 
where there is just one they will be liable to want to handle it. 

We should give children the idea of abundance through Thanks- 
giving work. 

"THE FLOWER BASKET." 



Affection. 



"Gease not to mould in pretty forms 
The children's little pets. 
And keep the loving interest warm 
Before the mind forgets." 

Song. 

"Weave the little basket ; take it 
In the garden; we will make it 
Gay with flowers freshly blooming. 
Father's birthday now is coming; 
Now to dear papa we bring it. 
With this song, and thus we sing it: 



; 



97 

LjSL, ±jSLy XjSiy GtCj 

Flowers sweet and fair, 
''La, La, La, etc., 
Greet my dear papa; 
La, La, La, etc' 



)> 



The principle is to give to others, to show love for them. 
This expression of the impression involves sacrifice. 
Christmas work is based on this play. 

Spirit of giving happily with love. Different methods with 
different classes of children. 



98 
Questions. 

* 

1. Describe the -play. Tell what the underlying principle is. 

2. How is it related to ''All Gone" Mother Play. 

3. Give a discussion of the second paragraph of commentary 
showing difference between Froebel's idea of self-activity or 
sense training and that of Pestalozzi. 

4. Give the steps of this series of events, tracing the food back 
to final source. 

5. Give different ways Froebel indicates through his pictures as 
to how to bring the subject to the children. His use of pic- 
tures, imitative play, looking on, and the activity itself. . What 
does child get through these various points? Give value of 
each — value of having child in pictures. 

A. Discuss value of pictures. 

B. What child gets from observation. 

C. Value of imitative activity. 

D. Value of participation. ^ 

6. Importance of child's social training. 

A. Importance of child's early social training. 

B. Place -in family — how family educates him socially. 

C. How school educates him socially. 

7. Why this special phase of trade life is so interesting to children 
and why it is so good for child's early training. 

8. Suggestions as to what you would do with this in programme 
work, songs, verses, stories you would use. 

Tell what you really think children get from farm work in the 
fall. 

Questions on Pat-a-Cake. 

1. Physical value of the pat-a-cake. 

2. Why taken in connection with the grass-mowing, 

3. Importance of having bread there on time. How this play 
relates itself to "Tick-tack." 

4. Description of picture as to custom of sending bread to bakers, 
German housewife baked her own bread and the picture shows her 
taking it to the baker's herself, and the little child accompanyino* 
her. In the picture the children are imitating the activities they 
have seen done, and all children love to make "bread" out of clay. 
They like the imitating, and the resemblance of clay to dough, and 
they like to do because they have seen mother do it. 



\ 



, 



i 



i ' 



PART IX 



LESSON XV 



of 



Home Study Course 



of 



Mothers Kindergarten School 



Copyright 1914 

MOTHERS KINDERGARTEN SCHOOL 
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI 



LESSON XV 



MOTHER PLAYS VII AND IX. 



"THE TASTE AND FLOWER SONGS." 



TICK-TACK." 



Order. 

"Who would find the prosperous way, 
The laws of order must obey. 
Who would win a happy fate, 
Must learn his time to regulate. 
He whom this practice shall annoy 
Will be bereft of many a joy. 
Then teach the child to value order, time; 
For these are priceless gifts in every clime." 

Song. 

. 'To and fro! to and fro! 

Goes the pendulum, sure and slow. 

So will I my arm incline, , 

Just in time and just in line; 

Beat by beat, with forward, back, 

Ever tick and ever tack ! ~ ,' \ ■ 

Tick, tack! tick, tack! 
Little clock saves me all care. 
Tells me when the right hours are — 
For eating, for sleeping, for play and all; • 
*For rising and bathing it sounds the call; 
Makes my heart beat pure and true ; 
Keeps me well and active, too. 
Beat by beat, with forward, back, • 
Ever tick and ever tack ! 

Tick, tack! tick, tack!" 

Train child to have culture and a sense of beauty. Child who' 
has love for beauty has a safeguard. Ugly vices will repel him. 

Child, or person, rather, who has not an appreciation of the 
beautiful is liable to become a machine, for he "narrows" as he 
grows older. 

A child who has this sense is more happy, contented, developed i 
and broader than one who has not. He will have more discrimina- 
tion. He will be more capable of adapting himself to his environ- 
ment, and more color will be added to his life. He will be a better 
man to himself and to the community if he has trained senses. 

We should cultivate the imagination of our children. The 
average American child is too prosaic. 



103 

College educated men are often condemned because they are 
not practical money-makers, but there are other things in life be- 
sides money, and the college educated man is generally broader- 
minded and better equipped for life as a whole. 

If child is going to have a sense of beauty he must have some 
experience — he must create. 

''General morality according to Froebel depends in great meas- 
ure on having this ideal side of the human being awakened and 
gratified from the very beginning of life in order to afford a con- 
tra poise to sensual desires and to prevent, as far as possible, the 
awakening of the lower appetites." 

The development of the sense of beauty while the reflective 
powers are still slumbering in the child's soul, offers the best means 
for this, therefore the eyes of the child are to be opened in his 
earliest years to forms, colors, etc., and the ear to music, and the 
weak, childish powers are to be prepared and used in the formation 
of beautiful objects. 

Cultivation of creative power will prevent coarseness later. 

Through a wise culture of the senses we learn to read the 
language of things. Such a culture is essential alike to the develop- 
ment of the child and to the well-being of the man. Who is a raan 
of fine and true taste? It is he who reads aright the language of 
things. It is he who repels the deleterious and invites the whole- 
some influence. 

The taste and smell sensations are like twin sisters in their 
intimate union. 

In sensation the physical and psychical, the merely vital, and 
the intellectual, the instinctive and the moral melt into each other. 
Hence the importance of sense culture. 

Child can very easily be given too much stimulation to senses. 
We must study the child. 

Children are interested in movement of pendulum, in mechan- 
ism back of it and in mystery about it. They like to listen to i\ 
watch for the same reason — it seems to have life. 

Froebel overestimates the child's opinion of value of time in 
this play. He reads his own philosophy into mind of child. 

Principle back of this play is order — value of punctuality — 
doing things at proper time in proper way; and rhythm. 

The ideal early training of a baby is order and regularity. 
This is the point so strongly emphasized by Barnes in his lecture 
on "Child's Early Morals." Child should be getting training in 
order and regularity right from the start, and we can't overesti- 
mate the value of this the first three or four months. This is the 
beginning of obedience and conformity to law. 

Miss Shinn attributes the happy temperament of her niece to 
her bodily comfort, right food, right clothes, order and punctualitv. 
The irritable child or adult is the physically sick one. But a child 
can very easily be given a tendency toward either disposition. 

Child should be given training in kindergarten, of order. His 
work must be orderly, and his time divided into periods of same 
length each day. Child likes to have things just the same day after 
day and he does not want anything left out. They like regularity. 

You should keep everything in order, for children imitate vou. 



TT 
104 

Rhythm will sometimes soothe and quiet children because it is 
orderly. 

The distinctive principle of art and consequently of design is 
order. 

''This principle of order is man's free gift, the addition of 
something in himself to what he receives from nature." 

Animals run and caper — man adds order and rhythm to run- 
ning and capering and has dancing. 

Birds sing — man adds order and has rhythm. 

We can train a child through rhythm to be a good citizen and to 
have culture and a sense of beauty. 

Froebel says, "To me it seems that there is no single thing 
which, from the day of his birth, is more important for men than 
the doing of things at the right time." "There is a certain remote 
kinship between the rhythmic swing of the pendulum and the form 
of our soul-activity." 

Tick-Tack Quotation. 

''Let this and every dawn of morning be to you as the begin- 
ning of life, and every setting sun be to you as its close. Let every 
one of these short lives have its sun record of some kindly thing 
done for others and some goodly strength or knowledge gained for 
ourselves and so, from day to day and strength to strength, we 
shall build iw bv art, by thought, and by just will, an ecclesia of 
which it shall not be said, 'See what manner of stones are here,' but 
see what manner of men." — John Ruskin. 



"THE CHARCOAL BURNER. 



» 



Mediatorial. 

"How from a little much may grow! 
How difficulties are laid low! 
In the unassuming, good may live; 
By this thou canst a lesson give." 

Song. 

"The charcoal-burner's hut is small, 
Will scarcely hold two men in all ; 
Yet in it dwell, in cheerful mood, 
The charcoal-burner and son so good. 
Thev brincr up the wood, and to charcoal they burn it; 
And into his wagon the smith shall then turn it. 
How could we our spoons, knives and forks too, have made, 
And many things else we may daily need. 
If the burner, with blackened face and hair. 
Burned not the coal with patient care? 
Come, child, and give the good coal-burner greeting — 
Without thv good spoon there's no pleasure in eating. 
And though in his face he may not be fair. 
We praise his good heart, for no shadow comes there." 



105 

The combination of sight and touch is very important for our 
perceptions. As we go up the bcale of life we find these three 
senses giving us more and more all the time, and developed to a 
greater degree. We depend very little upon taste and smell but a 
very great deal on the sense of sight and touch. Our hearing is 
decreasing in power and our sense of smell is already very weak. 
Henry Drummond says, ''Take up the functions of the animal body 
one by one, and it will be seen how the same arresting finger is 
laid upon them all. Consider, for example, the power of sight. Is 
it not the testimony of experience that the power has already begun 
to wane? Europe even now affords the spectacle of at least one 
nation so short-sighted that it might almost be called a myopic 
race. The sense of smell, compared with its development among 
the lower animals, is in civilized man, already all but gone. Com- 
pared even with a savage, it is an ascertained fact that the civilized 
man in this respect is vastly inferior. The ear itself, in contrast 
with that of the savage, is slow and dull, while compared with 
the quick sense of the lower animals, the organ is almost deaf. 
The skin, from the continuous use of clothes, has forfeited its pro- 
tective power. Owing to the use of the viands cooked, the muscles 
of the jaw are rapidly losing strength. The teeth, partly for a 
similar reason, are undergoing marked degeneration. For mere 
muscle, that on which man's whole life once depended, he has 
almost now no use. Once all men were athletes; now you have to 
pay to see them." 

.We should teach child that his hands are very important and 
are to be used for good purposes only; to work and play with; to 
keep them to himself and off himself. Froebel says in his Educa- 
tion of Man, that ''From a very early period, children should never 
be left too long to themselves on beds or cradles without some 
external object to occupj^ them. In order to avoid leaving the child 
on its bed mentally unoccupied while going to sleep, and still more, 
just after waking, it is advisable to suspend in a line with the 
child's natural vision a swinging ball." Any of the Finger plays 
are good for the same purpose as the child grows older. 

In explaining the motto, I should say that the trees cut down 
and burned to charcoal, the iron changed into attractive armor, 
shows man's strength and makes the child feel it. Child also sees 
different forces of nature that man has turned to his power. Water, 
electricity, and even wind. Child has feeling of respect when he 
sees a man changing lumber into a house. He thinks the black- 
smith is a wonderful man and he admires him. Men who can run 
a street car or train appeal very much to children, and a fireman 
is a hero. They see strength of man in all these things. They love 
movement and anything pertaining to the spectacular. If he can 
see the actual thing happening under his eyes he will appreciate it. 
He gets the feeling of power over himself and his surroundings 
and the power of materials — and these are the very things we want 
him to get. When he says that he will take some material home 
and make such a thing, he is beginning to have this feeling — feeling 
of ability, confidence, and sense of power to make good. He needs 
to feel these and there is a difference between this and conceit. 



106 ^ 

A child can be morbidly sensitive of his power and then it is a 
detriment. 

''Under aspect mean great good may hide." All children should 
be trained to feel that each person has his duty and his work and 
should be respected. Roosevelt told his son that there were just 
two classes of boys — good and bad. We should make the child feel 
the connection and proper regard for the laborer. 

This play may be exchanged for the miner. When such is the 
case, start always with the blacksmith first, because there is a 
relationship between his life and the child's. Horses have very 
important place in the child's mind. He is interested in the^'r 
activity and strength. He sees them all the time and is dependent 
upon them for groceries, ice, coal, packages, etc. So the child's 
.interest in the blacksmith borrows from his interest in the horse 
but not much. The fire, and the movements of the blacksmith, hold 
him a silent worshiper. 

When presenting the subject start by asking how many have 
seen a blacksmith shop. Talk about it and show them a picture 
or have a blackboard drawing of the most important things in a 
blacksmith shop. Next step is to have children feel that he enjoys 
his work by his singing. They can get this feeling through playin^- 
it, by story, or by visit to the shop, which is the kernel of the who^e 
thing. Seeing means so much to children. After a visit they will 
do better free cutting than ever before. 

It is impossible for them to go see a miner and there are so 
many things about mining they cannot see. We haven't even good 
pictures, so just tell them principal things. Do not go into detail. ^ 
Give children idea of mine being a great bior hole in ground, shaft, p 
lights, pick-ax, and ore shaft. It is very difficult to give images on 
this subject. We give it because it takes children back to more 
direct source. It is good that they feel in every case that we are 
dependent upon God's bounty. 

Quotations from "Stones -of Venice," by John Ruskin. 

"In the main, we require from buildings, as from men, two 
kinds of goodness: first, the doing their practical duty well, then 
that they be graceful and pleasing in doing it; which last is itself 
another form of duty." 

"Then the practical duty divides itself into two branches — 
acting and talking: acting, as to defend us from weather or vio- 
lence; talking, as the duty of monuments or tombs, to record facts 
and express feelings ; or of churches, temples, public edifices, treated 
as books of history, to tell such history clearly and forcibly. We 
have thus, all together, three great branches of architectural virtue, 
and we require of any building: 

1. That it act well, and do the things it was intended to do 
in the best way. 

2. That it speak well, and say the things it was intended to 
say in the best words. 

3. That it look well, and please us by its presence, whatever 
it has to do or to say." 

"We take pleasure, or should take pleasure, in architectural 
construction altogether as the manifestation of an admirable human 



107 

intelligence; it is not the strength, not the size, not the finish of 
the work which we are to venerate; rocks are always stronger, 
mountains always larger, all natural objects more finished; but it 
is the intelligence and resolution of man in overcoming physical 
difficulty which are to be the source of our pleasure and subject of 
our pride. And again, in decoration or beauty, it is less the actual 
loveliness of the thing produced, than the choice and invention 
concerned in the production, which are to delight us; the love and 
the thoughts of the workman more than his work: his work must 
always be imperfect, but his thoughts and affections may be true 
and deep. In the structure of his work, his affectionate part 
is to be shown in its decoration; and that decoration may be 
indeed lovely, two things are needed: first, that the affections be 
vivid, and honestly shown; secondly, that they be fixed on the 
right things." 

**If a man is cold in his likings or dislikings, or if he will not 
tell you what he likes, you can make nothing of him. Only get him 
to feel quickly and to speak plainly, and you may set him right." 

''The fact is that the great evil of all recent architectural effort 
has not been that men liked wrong things, but that they either cared 
nothing about any, or pretended to like what they did not." 

''Half the evil in this world comes from people not knowing 
what they do like, not deliberately setting themselves to find out 
what they really enjoy. All people enjoy giving away money, for 
instance: they don't know that — they rather think they like keeping 
it; and they do keep it under this false impression, often to their 
great discomfort. Everybody likes to do good; but not one in a 
hundred finds this out. Multitudes think they like to do evil; yet 
no man ever really enjoyed doing evil since God made the world." 

"Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the 
most useless; peacocks and lilies, for instance." 



(< 



THE CARPENTER." 



Spiritual. 



"Wherever the child sees good work done. 

The mind and heart are easily won. 
Then through constructive form he passes 

From the outward 

To the inward. 
And feels the inner sense and uses." 

Song. 

* 

"Oh, see the carpenter; all day 
With curious art he works away: 
The high is here brought low; 
The long is shorter now; 
The crooked soon comes straight; 
The round he maketh flat; 
All smooth he makes the rough: 
Is not that skill enough? 



108 

Now all must he combine, 

All parts together join; ; 

And see what now he shows: 

From timbers the house now grows — 

A house for my good child, 

Where dwell his parents mild, 

Who night and day attend him 

And from all harm defend him. 

The carpenter must love the child, 

The good protecting house to build.'' 

In Froebel's Blacksmith picture Froebel uses the blacksmith as 
a type of man who works in a rough way, handling hard material 
and using his hands. 

A child would get from the man working in the picture an 
idea of the danger of it. James, in his psychology speaks of the 
heroic things men do every day, especially laborers. In the Car- 
penter picture the men up on the roof are doing a brave thing and 
the child feels it. 

The miner's work is more dangerous than the carpenter's, 
though he has more diversity. Miner's work is more mechanical 
while carpenter's requires training and skill. As a child watches 
a house going up he gets a feeling of individual work and that each 
person working on the house has his own work to do. All are 
doing different things and contributing to the whole, while the 
miner's work is all the same. 

If taking carpenter for subject, start with building a house. 
Have a story first and connect it. 

In planning this house emphasize how strongly it would have 
to be built; how you'd have to make the house fit the family and 
the number of rooms required. Emphasize necessities and luxuries, 
each member of the house should be considered and his tastes grati- 
fied. The yard and the garden should be considered. 

Froebel says 'The house should contribute by its plan, structure, 
and furniture to the ease with which all domestic duties may be 
fulfilled. What the skin is to the body, the house is to the family, 
whose life it environs, protects, and within certain limits determines. 
Can we exaggerate the influence of a wisely planned and well- 
ordered house, either upon the health, the comfort or the happiness 
of its inmates?" 'The priceless blessing of a happy home can be 
won only by struggle, endurance and self-sacrifice." 

After planning house with the children the next step is to build 
it. Emphasize especially the principle of interdependence, by the 
different trades, carpenters, masons, excavators, plumbers, etc. 
Nothing more interesting. It gives children a chance for playing 
out so much. Afjter house is built go back to wood-man. This is 
an easy subject to bring children images of. It is possible to take 
either the carpenter or the woodman first, though it is better to 
start with the carpenter, for he is nearer child's own interests. 



109 



THE WHEELWRIGHT. 



Philosophy. 

''The child with joy and wonder understands 
For what good work the man may use his hands." 

Song. 

*'Let us to the wheelwright go — 
Watch to see what he will do. 
See now, see now, see! 
Oh, what pains takes he 
That the auger go straight through, 
That the hole be smooth and true! 
Now 'tis ready to his mind, 
To the axle may be joined. 
Round it goes now, ever round now! 
Round now, round now, yes. 
It goeth ever round now. 
Round now, round now, etc. 

The wheelwright's work is making wheels. We use this in 
kindergarten because we make so many things by utilizing wheels 
and because the wheel is used to make it go. The child is interested 
in the movement and the activity. 

The underlying principle of this play is 'Transportation," and 
it relates to interdependence. It is one of the steps in nearly „ 
everything we take up. Every time there is a step forward<^ 
transportation there is one forward in civilization, and it is so with 
the child as well as the race. 

"THE JOINER.'' 



Appreciation. 



''That each works on in his own way 
Cannot escape the child's quick eye. 
Naught is so easy to attain, 
But he may therefrom a lesson gain." 

Song. 

Zish! Zish! Zish! 

The joiner planes to his wish, 

Makes the table smooth and good. 

Leaves no hole within the wood. 

Zish! Zish! Zish! 

The joiner planes to his wish. 

Long, long, long. 

Planing the bench so strong! 



MO 

Planes until all white it grows; 
Planes till not a splinter shows, 
Long, long, long, 
Planing the bench so strong! 

A little child has small chance for communication. As he 
develops his eye and hand can do it better by signs, and when he 
creeps there is a rapid mental development. Power of moving about 
and of communication means greater development. 

Man formerly used to be impeded by slow methods of trans- 
portation. Great change came about when man learned to use 
natural forces, animals, tools and fires. Not until then did he have 
such a wonderful dominion over nature. The fleetest Indian cannot 
cover space as a steam engine; the eye of the keenest animal cannot 
see as far as man with his apparatus. Two hundred years ago 
there wasn't the inter-communication there is now. 

Something that is so closely connected with all our enterprises 
cannot be overlooked, though we cannot give the child very much. 
All through the year we carry this subject of transportation along. 
In Fall talks about farmer and how he gets his things to barn, etc. ; 
the grocery boy; how child gets down town; how he gets out on 
farm; how he gets to park; how packages are delivered at Christ- 
mas time; how all our relations get to us at Thanksgiving time. 
So we don't take this subject up as a separate study but bring it 
in, in many places. 

Relation between child's development and that of the race 
shown in Commentary. 

Read Maud Lindsay's story "The Journey" in connection with 
this. 

The emphasizes in the Joiner is on long, straight, short, etc. 






! i 



' 



PART X 



LESSON XVI 



of 



Home Study Course 



of 



Mothers Kindergarten School 



Copyright 1914 

MOTHERS KINDERGARTEN SCHOOL 
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI 



LESSON XVI 



THE KNIGHT MOTHER PLAYS X 

The Knights and the Good Child. 
The Knights and the Bad Child. 
The Knights and the Mother. 

THE KNIGHTS AND GOOD CHILD. 



Approval. 



''There lurks within the child a hidden feeling 

That he lives not in this life alone. 
He fancies forms and voices 'round him stealing 

That are strange and foreign to his own, 
A new degree of life he has begun, 
, The genuine call of life his ear has won. 

Have care, then, for the little child so bright. 
Let him not follow a delusive light. 
And not entirely in the outward live, 
But let the inner life its impulse give." 

Song. 

Five knights I see riding at rapid pace, 
Within the court their steps I trace. 
''What would ye now, fair knights, with me?" 
"We wish thy precious child to see. 
They say he is like the doves so good. 
And like the lamb, of merry mood. 
\ Then wilt thou kindly let us meet him. 

That tenderly our hearts may greet him?" 
"Now the precious child behold — 

Well he merits love untold." 
"Child we give thee greetings rare, 
This will sweeten mother's care. 
Worth much love the good child is, 
Peace and joy are ever his. 
Now will we no longer tarry — 
Joy unto our homes we'll carry." 

Child comes to understand that a great power reigns in the uni-i 
verse, and that this great power gives and creates true freedom, d 



115 



KNIGHTS AND THE BAD CHILD, 



Disapproval. 

That all unto the good are drawn, 
That the good know when aught is wrong. 
The child must early learn to know 
That he may not the joy of life forego. 

Song. 

Five knights I see riding at rapid pace, 

Within the court-yard their steps I trace. 
''What would ye now, fair knights, with me?" 
''We wish thy precious child to see." 
"Ah, friendly knights, I grieve to say 

I cannot bring him to you today; 

He cries, is so morose and cross. 

That all too small we find the house." 
"Oh, such tidings give us pain — 

No longer we sing a joyful strain; 

We'll ride away, we'll ride afar, 

Where all the good little children are." 

Comes to understand that all are attracted by what is good, and 
that the good flee from what is evil. 

THE KNIGHTS AND THE MOTHER. 



Protection. 



"The child must soon learn 
The good to discern ; 
While the good shalt thou treasure 
And heighten his pleasure." 

Song. / 

Five knights in full trot are coming hither: 

They want my child, they would take him thithe^. 

Hide thee, child. Oh hide thee now! 

Where thou art must they never know. 

Please, fair knights, I pray you. 

Trot off and don't delay you. 

Is it not now very clear 

That my darling is not here? 

Hop, hop, hop ! hop, hop, hop ! 

Away now they go, gallop, hop! 

Now peep out and say good by! 

Swiftly trot the fine knights away. 

This little drama of three acts, "The Knights and the Good 



116 

Child," "The Knights and the Bad Child" and ''The Knights and the 
Mother," show us clearly Froebel's profound insight into the depths 
of human nature. ''He here places before us a simple, practical 
way of dealing with two universal and tremendously strong in- 
stincts; namely, desire for the approval of those we love, and the 
dread of censure from those we most esteem." In the first act the 
child is sitting upon his mother's lap, with one of her arms around 
him, while the other arm and hand (beginning with the little finger 
and going towards the thumb) trot or gallop one after the other first 
toward the child and then from him. In the second act and the 
third the movements of the fingers are the same as in the preced- 
ing one. In the third the child hides himself in various ways and 
places. - 

As a group these plays stand for the moral development of 
the child; they stand for the ideal character. "The mounted knight 
expresses free self-determination, free mastery of the will. Through] 
his control of his steed he also presents symbolically the mastery 
of the rude powers of Nature. Hence, in the prescient phantasy 
of childhood the knight stands out a clear-cut image of ideal free- 
dom and beauty." 

It is very important as the child grows older to give him a con- 
scious ideal of character and it is very essential to place before him 
ideals which will appeal to and interest him. He begins to feel 
unity — ^the connection of his life with those about him very early, 
almost from the very first. Baldwin says that "He begins to feel 
persons before anything else." Few people realize the tremendous 
influence of personality upon the child. 

We should commence right from the beginning to develop the 
child morally, and for the first six years of his life this develop- 
ment must depend entirely upon the mother and the home. The 
ideal mother begins the very first day to establish certain habits. 
Barnes said that "at the end of the first four months of a child's 
life you could tell whether that child would be a criminal or a law- 
abiding citizen — according to his habits — you could make him one 
or the other." The child's first experiences should give him habits. 
The first step in moral training is the establishing of physical hab- 
its, and we find that he yields very easily and very early. These 
certain physical habits will, if well persisted in, establish obedience, 
faith and confidence later on. It is very essential that the child 
should obey at first because he has no experience, nor self-control, 
nor reasoning power, and this stage of unquestionable obedience 
should last until the child is about three years old. 

From the time he is six months old the very important instinct 
of imitation comes into play, and as it develops it means a very great 
deal in the child's moral life. He imitates grown people more than 
anyone else, and for this reason they should be good copies — the child 
has not the power of discrimination between good and bad copies, so 
it behooves us to be only the best of copies. As he imitates he begins 
to get a certain standard; generally what his mother or father say 
or do is all right and he is working continually toward ideals. 

When the child begins to avoid doing things because he does not 
want to be blamed, or when he begins to want praise, he is com- 
mencing to have som.e realization of right and wrong, and a con- 



117 

scious ideal of his mother — that her opinion is the standard to go 
by and nothing else counts as it does. The mother's attitude at this 
time is very important. She should be consistent — never varying. 
This is a golden opportunity for her to win an everlasting place in 
the heart of her child. She can instill ideas and ideals in a way 
that they will never be forgotten, and establish standards of right 
and wrong which will never be erased. 

As the child grows out of this stage the mother may help him 
by advising him through the strong bonds of faith which she has 
established, and she may also give him more freedom of choice. As 
he grows older his ideal becomes more and more conscious and his 
mother's control becomes less and less arbitrary. She has to help 
him get the ideal — to be rather than to seem — that is her work. ''It 
is only by being ourselves what we would have our children become 
that we really and truly influence them to strive to become all that 
we desire of them." 

The connection between this stage of the child — when he is 
looking for certain ideals — and the Knight play is that the latter 
meets this stage and gives these necessary ideals. That is the pri- 
mary reason why we introduce it into the kindergarten. 

Most of the above discussion has been upon the moral training 
of the child in the home and by the mother, and right here one 
more strong point may be made to aid this moral development in 
the home. A child is more apt to be good than to be bad and if he 
has naturally good impulses they will be drawn out by his environ- 
ment. "'Even as a magnet — goodness draws the good." The child 
needs good influences about him — he assimiliates these influences 
through imitative instinct and he is consciously and unconsciously 
getting these good points. Therefore much depends upon his sur- 
rondings, and if a p-ood mother is added to the good surroundings 
the environment is complete. 

When we take the moral training of the child in the kinder- 
p*arten and look at it from a perspective point of view down through 
the year, we find it is one of the foundation stones of the kinder- 
garten. Scarcely a day passes without this moral training coming 
in some way to the f^hild, either consciously or unconsciously. One 
of the first thing's he learns is law, and, though he has already 
learned law at home, this is another phase of it. He finds that he 
must conform to this law and that when he does not he is subjected 
to public disaiDproval. He learns that he must be good in order to 
be respected and loved. 

He learns self-control, which is one of the essentials for a good 
moral man. This lesson comes to him on the song circle, on the 
game circle and at his table work. Telling the truth is another one 
of his many lessons in moral training. This is not emphasized to 
excess in the kindergarten, for it is often difficult to tell whether 
the child is lyine or whether his imagination "has possession of 
him," so to speak, but in the morning talks, and in many other 
ways, the child is made to feel that truth is the coveted thing. 
Taking things whi^^h belonsr to another; in other words, stealing, is 
instilled into the child in such a wav that he has absolutely no desire 
to take another's nossessions. He learns to k^ep his hands to him- 
self and off himself, and employed in the right way. He learns to 



ol 



118 

do his work well, and the habit of doing everything well is surely 
a great help toward making a good character. Another thing which 
may be associated with doing a thing well is order. This is empha- 
sized in every way in the kindergarten, and Froebel says "Each 
thing prospers only when in all its doings it keeps true time." 

Unselfishness is one of the child's many lessons which he may 
get either consciously or unconsciously. He soon perceives that the 
selfish child meets with disapproval, and that one of the laws is 
"share and share alike." Making things for others and doing things 
to help others also aid him in his development of unselfishness. 

Patience comes to the child in the kindergarten, generally 
unconsciously. He must wait for his song to be sung on the circle ; 
he must wait for his turn to talk; he must wait for his turn to 
skip ; he must wait for his turn to lead the march ; he must wait for 
his material at the table; he must wait for assistance with his 
wraps ; he must wait, wait, wait, all morning — not long enough to try 
his little soul, but just long enough to teach him a very gentle and 
essential lesson in one of the most necessary virtues — Patience. 

Another thing — he learns that his will must be subject to the 
will of others, and this is the first lesson in the learning of that 
great self -subjecting law given us by Jesus, "Thy w^ill be done." He 
grasps, often unconsciously, that willfullness and stubbornness is 
of no avail, and the lessons he learns then if properly nurtured will 
expand and expand until we find the child a well developed man, in 
harmony with God, nature and himself. 

All through the year we strive to develop the love with which 
the child came to us in the fall. We strive first to strengthen the 
family bonds of love, then we expand it until it includes nature and 
finally the whole community. This love embraces kindness, gentle- 
ness, thoughtfulness, sympathy and forbearance. And there is no 
line of work we take up in the kindergarten where the shining let- 
ters of the word "Love" do not stand out as the motto of the lesson 
we are striving to teach. 

In moral training one of the greatest aids is the cultivation o"^ 
the senses, and this is begun the first day in the kindergarten and 
continued throughout the year. Froebel says "Throuo-h a cultivation 
of the senses we learn to read the language of things. Who is a 
man of fine and true taste? It is he who reads aright the language 
of things. It is he who repels the deleterious and invites the whole- 
some influence. In training the senses, dear mother, you cultivate 
the heart and the intellect at the same time- In sensation the 
physical and psychical, the merely vital and the intellectual, the 
instinctive and the moral melt into each other. Hence the impor- 
tance of sense culture." 

There are many other things in the kindergarten which aid the 
moral development of the child, but we have only the space and the 
time to mention the great big things — the things which help to 
make character. 

The value of the Knight work as a subject for the kindergarten 
is very great, and the play of "The Knights and the Mother" gives 
us the keynote of all our kindergarten work. This play "aims to 
make the child conscious of the peculiar tie between his own hea'^'t 
and the heart of his mother." All the Knight games bring out this 



1 19 

love between the mother and the child, and all the stories we tell in 
connection emphasize this particular point. The true family feeling 
is the center of the work. The child is made to realize that he can 
be a Knight at home — in fact, that he must be a Knight at home 
first, then when he grows older he can go to the King and be a 
Knight. 

In spite of the value some place upon the work, it is a question 
in the mind of others whether this Knight work should be intro- 
duced into the kindergarten. Some say that the child is too young 
to get the lessons in good behavior and morals that the play strives 
to give, but if these same people could hear the testimonies of 
mothers who know; mothers who have watched closely the effects 
of this work given in kindergarten upon their children, and moth- 
ers who have made their children a study and are able to tell what 
influences them for the best, they would concede a few points in 
favor of the Knight work. Of course where children are permitted 
to attend kindergarten between the ages of three and five they are 
too young to get very much out of it — ^but the average child of six 
gets a great deal from this line of work. Again, a great deal 
depends upon the way the subject is given as to how much benefit 
he shall derive. If it is related the child's own experiences, and so 
he may feel the tangibility of it, we will find a somewhat different 
child in the home. He will be more chivalrous, more obedient, 
more thoughtful and more manly. Some one may say ''Yes, perhaps 
while the new is on, while the story is fresh in his mind, but that 
will soon wear off." If he have a loving, directing mother who is 
familiar with the Knight work there is no need for the lessons to 
even slip from his mind. In a thousand motherly w^ays she can 
instill them again and again until they become a habit, and who can 
say in later years of a man with such habits just how much he owes 
to his first Knight work in kindergarten? Who can say that any- 
thing else would have appealed to the boy's interest any more than 
the dashing, chivalrous, princely Knights? And was not arousing 
the interest the first step to all that followed? Surely the child who 
refrains from teasing, or impatience, or slapping little sister because 
"it is not Knightly" has learned his first lessons. 

Others claim that the Knights are too far off, too idealistic, and 
that the more realistic things should be given the child. For exam- 
ple, they would prefer the policeman — because he is chivalrous in 
a way; he helps the weak, looks after the defenseless when there 
is danger and keeps peace. In a sense he is the law embodied, hence 
more practical than the Knights. It is here, once again, as it was 
when studying animals in the fall — the policeman is too close. Often 
some child in the kindergarten will know Mr. Policeman in his 
home, where he perhaps is not all that he should be — at least not 
ideal. When it comes to a matter of character and morals the child 
should be given the ideal — something that is absolutely without 
flaws, and therefore never disappointing. Can one say that of a 
policeman? Most assuredly not, for they are quite human, but it 
may be said very truthfully of the Knights. Again, there are not as 
many things about a policeman to excite curiosity and arouse inter- 
est as there are about a Knight. There are no waving plumes, or 
glistening helmets, no armor, spear or lance, no dashing, prancing 



120 

steed with beautiful saddle decorations, no great castles, deep moats, 
nor wonderful draw bridges. Of course all these things do not 
belong to the realm of the practical and the real, but surely better 
lessons are to be learned from the idealistic than the realistic. We 
go too far in trying to pin a child down to brutal realities. Miss 
Tanner says ''Now, is it not a pity that children and young people 
should be on the whole so prosy and confined to real life? We hear 
a great deal about the abuse of the imagination, the danger of day- 
dreams and castles in Spain, and the moral obliquity involved in 
presenting fairy tales and myths to children. There is, of course, 
a real danger here lest in playing with ideas a child forget realities, 
but in view of this collection of ideals borrowed so directly from 
the everyday life of thousands of children, the danger of our becom- 
ing a nation of dreamers does not seem to be nearly as imminent as 
that of our becoming a nation of money-lovers and materialists, sat- 
isfied with present conditions. Will children with such ideas ever 
become creators? Will they turn out to be artists, poets, inventors, 
or even signal successes in the conduct of any large enterprise? 
Hardly." 

''Imagination, in short, is the pattern of the web of life. It is 
the shaping force without which the universe would be a chaos. We 
should say then that abuse of the imagination is possible only when 
images do not finally turn back into our life and change it in some 
way." Knight work need not be any more distant to the child than 
trade work if properly handled. We strive to turn his images back 
into his own life and change it in some way. 

If we emphasize the imagination side too much we are injur- 
ing the child, and if we emphasize the other side the same is true. 
We must consider the child. If he is very imaginative we must 
help him. to become more practical and vice versa. When children 
come from homes where many fairy stories are told and where they 
receive much training it would be best not to carrv imasfinative side 
too far. If they come from homes where the situation is just the 
opposite, we should make a conscious effort to give more of this 
sort of work to the child. 

When using these Knight plays as a basis for kindergarten 
work, I would be very careful about the sitting which I gave it, I 
would bring in only those details that were necessary to my point. 
For instance, the castle, built so strong and generally upon a high 
point; the towers, where watchmen were always watching to help 
those who needed help; the draw-bridge and the moat to keep out 
robbers, etc., etc. I would tell generally of things Knights might 
do — protect people, obey their king, etc. I would tell why they 
wore shields and armor; why they carried lances and rode horses. 
I would emphasize the beauty and decoration and make it a part of 
the picture. It is interesting to the child and gives him a feeling of 
fairy tales and the mystic. In this Knight work a very great deal 
depends upon the setting, and it is quite essential that the child get 
very clear and keen-cut images. If the child gets this picture and 
loses sight of the significant thing through too much of the exter- 
nal, he loses much. The picturesqueness of situation and interest 
of subject should not outshine the moral lessons to be learned. One 
objection often made to the use of this Knight work is that too 



121 

much dramatic play may be indulged in and the spiritual lesson 
lost. The Knight work must be related, must be brought home to 
the child and must be used in connection with the other work all 
through the year. We must strive to give children habits of service 
and thoughtfulness all through the year. 

As we deal with imagination in kmdergarten we have the two 
distinct kinds — the fanciful and the idealistic. The image-making 
faculty may not always put together memory forms to serve some 
deep purpose or convey some mystic meaning. When it is exercised 
in aimless or capricious m.anner to create fantastic or impossible, 
yet withal gracetul and pleasing forms, it is known as fancy. In 
the drama, imagination is responsible for the complex scenes and 
the faithfully delineated characters even for the costumes which 
reflect character and circumstance ; fancy gives delicate graces, many 
of the poetical comparisons; much of the imagery spirits, like 
Ariel, are the work of fancy ; Vv^omen as true and tender as Miranda 
of the imagination. The world of fancy is an unreal world, but to 
the child it is a beautiful one. 

Our minds are full of imaginative ideals. These ideals become 
standards of desiie, objects of aim, stimuli to action until life re- 
solves itself into a constant effort to realize them. If they are high 
and true, we must rise in the course of their pursuit; if low, we 
can but fall. Thus the imagination appears as a most potent instru- 
ment either of good or of evil. Like tast^, it may be perverted. 
The artist or the sculptor has the gift of originating ideal combi- 
nations and expressing them in material form so that they can be 
recognized and enjoyed by others. Ideals projected in this way do 
more than entertain; they act as a means of improvement or injury 
to the whole human race. "The Greek idea of manliness, as em- 
bodied in the characterization of Homer, has exerted an incalculable 
influence in creating admiration for those virtues that unite to make 
a perfect character. So the majestic beauty of the face of the 
Greek Venus, shadowing forth a mighty intellectuality — a cold, 
stern dignity that withers every carnal suggestion and spells the 
pure in heart with its god-like charm — must stand forever as an 
inspiration to high resolve and noble endeavor." On the other 
hand, words are hardly needed to portray the evil wrought by the 
utterance of low ideals in statue, picture, and novel. 

We strive in our Knight work to give the children high ideals 
of character ; to develop the idealistic imagination in order that they 
may create; to cultivate their taste so that only the high ideals will 
appeal to them, and to help them to know that their ideals may 
become realistic. 

Returning to the Knight plays proper once more, nothing better 
can be said in closing than what Elizabeth Harrison has already 
said in regard to another side of these plays — the side where wrong 
is censured by those we love and approval in all things is sought. 

''This union, then estrangement through wrong-doing, and 
restoration through true repentance, is the keynote to half of 
Shakespeare's plays. Every poet of Christendom has sung the same 
theme. Sin separates us from our fellow men as well as from God. 
Love united us to mankind and the All-Father deep down in each 



122 



human soul is the longing for approval and love and the dread of 
censure or the withdrawal of that love. The marvelous way in 
which Froebel has brought this world-wide, time-tried truth down 
into the child's play in the nursery is enough to entitle him to the 
respect and admiration of all parents and educators who realize 
that the child must be trained in world principles if he is to attain 
unto world culture." 



123 



Questions. 

I. Describe the Plays. 

Tell what the plays stand for as a group. Give a full dis- 
cussion of the development of the child in a conscious moral 
standard — all the influences that enter in — in the home and 
kindergarten. Take each separately. Give things that are 
done through the year. 
II. Discuss the imagination — the two kinds and the uses of each. 
III. Value of the Knights as a subject for kindergarten work. 

1. Arguments against its use. 

2. Suggestions for its use as a basis for kindergarten work. 

BOOKS USED FOR REFERENCE. 

Jam.es "Talks to Teachers." 

Tanner, ''The Child.'' 

Dr. Dewey, ''Mental Development." 

"Studies of Childhood," by Sully. 

"Two Children of the Foothills," by Elizabeth Harrison. 

Froebel's Mother Play. 

John Ruskin — on the Imagination. 



. 



PART XI 



LESSONS XVII AND XVIII 



of 



Home Study Course 



of 



Mothers Kindergarten School 



Copyright 1914 

MOTHERS KINDERGARTEN SCHOOL 
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI 



LESSON XVII. 



EDUCATION OF MAN. 

School problem is to teach the child all the relations of life. 

Teacher has to mediate between the world and the home. She 
has to prepare him for world. 

For a little child just emerging from baby-hood the world is a 
world of things or objects with no connections. Little later in same 
stage things become things to use — for himself, for play — the world 
becomes a play world. 

As he grows older he wants to find out more about the relation 
of things — wants more definite results and more definite knowledge 
and information for its own sake. This is the time he is ready and 
should go to school. 

As he grows into High School stage he wants more scientific 
knowledge and the origin of things. He is growing into Philosophy 
— into reason. He begins to want to broaden out. 

"Education isn't preparation for life, it is life." — Emerson. 

Read "Emmy Lou Stories." 

The time in our lives that we are most productive is from twen- 
ty-five to forty years previous to this are preparation. 

After twenty-five a man gets no more new ideas says James. 

A man's production depends upon his preparation. 

"Education is adaptation." All development is adaptation. 

Groundwork of the Whole. 

L The purpose of Education. 

A. The existence of law in all things. 

1. a. Revealed to humanity either thru faith or insight in 
nature, spirit, life. 

B. This law based on Unity, God. 

Every created thing has a divine essence. 

C. The destiny of each created thing is the eternal revealing of 

this divine essence. Man as an intelligent being must 
also become conscious of his essence and reveal it con- 
sciously. 
1. c. Definition — Education consists in leading man, as a 
thinking intelligent being, growing into self-con- 
sciousness, to a pure and unsullied, conscious 
and free representation of the inner law of Di- 
vine Unity and in teaching him ways and means 
thereto. 

D. Science of life — knowledge of law. 

1. d. Science of Education — knowledge of law referred to 

education. 

2. d. Practice of education — practical application of theory 

in direct education of specific human beings. 



rl 



127 

3. d. Theory of education — system of directions derived 

from law. 

4. d. Object of education — realization of a good life. 
E. Wisdom is highest aim of life. 

Education of self and others is its two-fold achievement. 
Therefore education should bring out the essence in 
each man — raise him to free conscious obedience to the 
divine principle — to free expression in his life. 

Definition — Education should lead man to clearness con- 
cerning himself and in himself, to peace with nature 
and to unity with God. 
11. Resultant character of Education. 

A. Divine essence revealed thru outer manifestations (but in- 

ferences concerning inner life must be drawn with 
great care from these manifestations — often inversely 
failure to apply this truth responsible for much mis- 
understanding between educator and children). 

B. Since all life has within it this divine essence every organ- 

ism must follow the law of its natural development — 
even truer of man than plants or animals. 
Therefore education must be passive following — not pre- 
scriptive. 

C. An absolutely unmarred state is rarely found but its exist- 

ence must be assumed until the opposite has been un- 
mistakably shown. If proved beyond doubt, the child's 
best good demands prescriptive but used with the great- 
est care since much of it imperils the self active — spon- 
taneous representation of the inner self which is the 
highest end of education. 

D. In general then we must carefully study the child's nature 

and consequent needs and give the environment best 
adapted to his true development. 

E. Prescriptive education is justified only on two grounds. 

1. Because it teaches an eternal principal of truth. 

2. Because it holds up an ideal. 

In both cases however these ideals are mandatory in 
spirit not in form. 

F. In true education then, necessity should call forth freedom, 

law, self determination. "All prescription should be 
adapted to the child's nature and needs and secure his 
cooperation." 

G. Child should realize that teacher is simply exponent of law 

and is subject to it equally with him — that he is not 
obeying her but the law of right, the best. This should 
appear in every demand. 

H. He should be taught the principle. "Exhibit only thy spirit- 
ual essence, thy life, in the external and by means of 
the external in thy actions, and observe the require- 
ments of thy inner being and its nature." 

I. "The educator, the teacher, should make the individual and 
particular general, the general particular and individual 
and elucidate both in life; he should make the external 



128 

internal, and the internal external and indicate the ne- 
cessity of both ; he should consider the finite in the light 
of the infinite, and the infinite in the light of the finite, 
and harmonize both in life; he should see and perceive 
the divine essence in whatever is human, trace the na- 
ture of man to God, and seek to exhibit both in one 
another in life/* 

III. The child in his relationships. 

A. Every human being should be treated as an expression of 

divinity — as related to God — to nature — to humanity — 
as comprehending within himself unity, diversity, and 
individuality, past, present and future. 

B. Therefore humanity is not to be considered stationary but 

developing. 

C. Therefore each child as related to humanity repeats the 

stage of human development in a spontaneous individ- 
ual way. 

D. Therefore the educator should study the development of hu- 

manity to help him in his understanding of individual 
children. 

E. Duty of parents. 

F. Destiny of child. 

1. As child. 

2. As child of God. 

3. As child of nature. 

4. As member of family and humanity. 

G. Therefore each child should be given free all sided use of 

his powers and be taught to depend upon himself. 

IV. The child's early manifestations and their value — what they 

lead to. 

A. First utterance is that of force. 

B. Development of sympathy — dawn of self -consciousness. 

C. Pain and Pleasure. 

D. Early beginnings of willfulness — Cause. 

E. Value of leaving fretting child to find himself. 

F. Very susceptible to surroundings — so these should be care- 

fully related. 

G. Feeling of community as developed thru family life — this 

the beginning of religion — Importance of early devel- 
opment of religion — feeling largely in hands of mother. 

V. Continuity of Development. 

A. Its importance. — ''Sharp limits and definite subdivisions 

within the continuous series of the years of develop- 
ment withdrawing from attention the permanent con- 
tinuity, the living connection, the inner living essence, 
are therefore highly pernicious, and even destructive in 
their influence. 

B. Each stage is dependent upon the preceding. 'The child, 

the boy, man indeed, should know no other endeavor 
but to be at every stage of development wholly what 
this stage calls for." 



129 

C. Especially needful to consider this in the development of 

industrial power. 

1. c. True work. "God created man in his own image; 

therefore man should create and bring forth like 
God." 

2. c. Man works that he may express his inner being out- 

wardly. 

3. c. If he fails to work in this, spirit must suffer the in- 

evitable consequence. 

4. c. Therefore child should be early trained to work in 

this spirit. Activity of senses and limbs first 
germ in infancy — play the next step in childhood. 
In boyhood each child should be required to work 
at least one or two hours a day. 

D. Religion, industry, and temperance should be developed as 

early as possible and in relationship. 



LESSON XVIII 



EDUCATION OF MAN. 
Outline. 

I. The world as it comes to the child at first. 

"In misty, formless indistinctness, in chaotic confusion." 

1. The child finding his individuality. 

2. Corresponding words of parent and child reunite them. 

3. Relation of child's development and development of all things. 

4. Dawn of reason. 

1.2. First self assertion is evidence of will. 
2.2. Marks the moral and human emancipation. 

5. Relation of individual and racial development. 

1.2. "Should view own life and that of others at all its 

stages as a continuous whole, developing in ac- 
cordance with divine laws." 

1.3. Only in this way can man understand history, phenom- 

ena, events of own development, history of his 
own heart, own feelings and thoughts; only in 
this way can he understand others or parents un- 
derstand their child. 

II. Man's destiny is expressed in these external forms. 

1.2. To make the internal, external. 
2.2. To make the external, internal. 
3.2. To find the unity for both. 
1.1. Development of the senses. 
2.1 Law of opposites. 

"Everything and every being, however comes to be known 
only as it is connected with the opposite, of its kind, and 
as its unity, its agreement with this opposite, its equa- 
tion with reference to this is discovered." 
3.1. Three forms of objects of external world as they present 
themselves to man. 
1.2. Solid. 
2.2. Liquid. 
3.2. Gaseous. 

4.2. In a state of rest or motion. 
4.1. Sense for gaseous (aeriform) is between eye and ear. 
5.1. Sense for Liquid between taste and smell. 
6.1. Sense for solid between feeling and touch. 
7.1. Sight develops first, hearing, specialized touch. 

III. Muscular Development. 

1.1. Use of Body and limbs develops simultaneously, and 
symmetrically with the advancing development of the 
senses. 



I 



131 

1.2. External objects invite this development. 

1.3. Are either at rest and invite rest. 
2,3. Or in motion and invite seizure. 

3.3. Or fixed in distant places and invite movement toward. 
2.1. Standing — represents the use of the body and limbs in 
their most complete totality; it is the finding of the 
gravity of the body. 
1.2. Just as significant for this stage as the first smile was 
for the preceding stage. 
3.1. Playing with his limbs. 

1.2. Does it merely for sake of use and practice. 

2.2. Cares not for the results of this use. 

3.3. False habits. 

1. Habitual bodily movements without inner meaning. 
2.4. Facial movements without inner meaning. 
3.4. The above distortions lead to separation be- 
tween the inner and outer, between body and 
mind. 
4.1. Need of watchfulness. 

1.2. Bed should not be too soft. 

1.3. Pillow should be of hay, sea-grass, fine straw, 

chaff, or horse hair, but never feathers. 
2.3. Child should be but lightly covered. 
3.3. Fresh air. 
2.2. Child should not be left on bed, unoccupied (mentally) 
while going to sleep or after wakening. 

1.3. Suspend a ball or bird cage within the child's 

natural vision. 

1.4. This secures occupation for the senses and mind 

profitable in many directions. 

IV. Beginning of childhood. ''When the child begins self-actively 

to represent the internal outwardly, the stage of infancy 
in human development ceases and the stage of childhood 
begins." 

1.1. Language. 

1.2. With it expression and representation of the internal begin. 
2.2. With it organization, or a differentiation with reference to 

ends and means set in. 
3.2. At this stage — actual education begins. More attention 

given to mind than body. 
2.2. Family. 
1.2. First educators of the child. 

V. Importance of childhood stage. 

1.1. Child at this stage should see all things rightly and ac- 
curately, and should designate them rightly and ac- 
curately, definitely and clearly. 

2.1. He should give each object its proper name or word and 

utt'^r ppf'^ word clearly. 

1.2. The peculiarities of the child's speech are due wholly to 

imperfections of hearing or speaking. 

2.3. Mothers retard children in unification of language and 

thought by "baby-talk" as "hannies" for hands. 



132 

3.1. All things at this stage should be brought before child 
rightly, clearly, and distinctly so he may see and know 
them that way. 

4.1. Play at this time. Play and speech constitute the element 

in which the child lives. 

1.2. He imparts feeling and speech to each thing. 

VI. Play — "it is self active representation of the inner from inner 
necessity and impulse. 

It is the highest phase of the child development. 
It is typical of human life as a whole. 
It holds the sources of all that is good. 
It gives joy, freedom, contentment, in and outer rest, and peace 

with the world." 

1.1. Kinds of play. 
1.2. Spontaneous. 
2.2. Dramatic. 
3.2. Constructive. 
4.2. Group play. 
2.1. Play should be protected, fostered and guarded. 

1.2. Plays of childhood are germinal leaves of all later life. 
2.2. Whole later life of man has its source in the period of 
child. His tenderest dispositions, and his inner- 
most tendencies shown in play. 
3.1. Child's future relations to father and mother, to the 
members of the family, to society and mankind, to 
nature and God, depend chiefly upon his mode of 
life at this period. 
1.2. There should be unity of the child and his surround- 
ings. 
2.2. Consequences of marring child's life at this time. 

VII. Food of the child. 
1.1. Simplicity necessary. 

1.2. After the mother's milk, the first food of child should 

be plain and simple. 
2.2. Should not be more artificial and refined than is ab- 
solutely needful. 
3.2. In no way stimulating and exciting through an excess 
of spices, nor rich. 
''Simplicity and frugality in food and in other physical 
needs during the years of childhood, enhance man's 
power of attaining happiness and vigor — true creative- 
ness." 
2.1. Consequences of over-stimulating food. 

1.2. Makes child sluggish, indolent, dull or inert. 
2.2. Comes in over-refinement in preparation of food, by ; 
which the physical side of the child's life is 
stimulated without true spiritual cause — con- 
suming and weakening the body. 
3.2. Impressions, inclinations, appetites which the child 
may have derived from his food, the turn it may 
have given to his senses and even to his life, as 
a whole, can only with difficulty be set aside 



i 



133 

even when the age of self-dependence has been 
reached. They are one with his whole physical 
life and are therefore intimately connected with 
his spiritual life. 
3.1. Always let food be simply for nourishment. Never more, 
— never less. Never let it be taken for its own sake. 

VIII. Clothing of the child. 

1.1. Clothing should be free from lacing and pressure of all 
kinds so he can move and play freely. 

2.1. Should not bind the body (for it will have on the mind, on 
the soul of the child the same effect it has on the 
body) . 
''Clothes, in form and color and cut, should never become 
an object in themselves, else they will soon direct the 
child's attention to his appearance instead of his real 
being, make him vain and frivolous — dollish — a puppet 
instead of a human being. 

IX. Objects of parental care. 
1.1. To awaken and develop. 

2.1. To quicken all the powers and natural gifts of the child, 
3.1. To enable all the members and organs of man to fulfill the 

requirements of the child's gifts and powers. 
4.1. Mothers' instinct is not enough — must do it consciously. 
5.1. Mothers' work. 

1.2. Teaches child to feel complexity of his body and the 
difference between his limbs. ("Give me your 
arm," ''Where is your hand?") 

2.2. Induces reflection in its earliest phases by tending to 
bring to child's knowledge an object which, altho' 
it has an individuality of its own, is yet united 
with the child ("Bite your finger.") 

3.2. Leads child in playful manner to a knowledge of the 
members which he cannot see, the nose, ear, 
eyes, teeth. ("I have your nose.") 

4.2. Leads child to use these things. "Show me your 
tooth." "Bite your tongue." 

5.2. Introduces child to the outside world. 

6.2. Directs attention to attributives and qualities of ob- 
jects as "The candle burns," "The knife pricks." 

7.2. Directs child to the permanence of the active quality 
or to its cause "The soup is hot, it burns you." 

8.2. Later from a knowledge of the immanent quality to a 
knowledge of the immanent effect. 

9 2. Leads child first to feel his own action and then to 
contemplate the action itself. 

10.2. Leads the child to contemplate the motion and the 
mutability of things, also self mobility of things. 

11.2. She incites child to bodily activity. 

12.2. She seeks to interpret the feeling of community be- 
tween the child and the father, brother and sis- 
ter which is so important. 

13.2. Leads child to feel his own inner life and brings this 



134 

life within the child's conscious control. 
7.1. Value of rhythmic movement. 

1.2. ''Development of it makes it easier for child to com- 
pass the legitimate, proper measure of his life.'* 
2.2, ''Much willfulness, impropriety and coarseness would 
be taken out of his life, his movements, and 
actions." 
3.2. He would secure more firmness and moderation, more 

harmony. 
4.2. Would give him a higher appreciation of nature and 
art, of music and poetry. 
X. Learning to stand and walk. 

1.1. He should stand when he is strong enough to keep his 

balance freely and independently. 
2.1. He should walk, when freely moving forward, he can inde- 
pendently keep his balance. 
3.1. Should not stand before he can sit erect and draw himself. 

up by some tall object near by. 
4.1. Should not walk before he can creep, rise freely, and 

maintain his balance. 
5.1. Neither perambulators nor leading strings should be used. 
XL Collecting instinct. 

1.1. He is collecting material for future life building. 
2.1. Studying the material. 

1.2., Child wants to know its nam.e, uses and qualities and 

it is the longing for this interpretation that 

urges him to appeal to us. 

2.2. Child loves all things that enter his world but they 

must not enter it dead (we must give them life) . 

3.2. Child seeks inner nature of material. 

"He would know himself why he loves this thing; he 
would know all its properties, its innermost na- 
ture, that he may learn to understand himself in 
his attachment." 
1.3. If this innate instinct were appreciated and guid- 
ed, it would lead child to seek to find God in 
all his work. 
4.2. Parental indifference crushes development. 
XH. First attempts at drawing. 
1.1. Finds chalk. 
2.1. First sketches. 

1.2. Lines — all mere outline. 

2.2. This directs his attention to linear properties of sur- 
rounding objects. 
3.2. "What man tries to represent or do he begins to under- 
stand." 
3.1. Give child chalk and encourage his drawing. 
4.1. Outline drawing. 
5.1. Drawing gives child. 

1.2. Clear conception of forms. 

2.2. The power to represent the forms independently. 

3.2. The fixing of the forms as such. 



■ li 



135 

4.2. Strengthening and practicing of the arm and hand in 
free representation of these. 
6.1. Parents need not be artists but they should draw with and 

for child. 
7.1. Need of descriptive words — connect child's actions with 
suitable language *'now I draw a table" etc. 
1.2. Word and drawing — are mutually explanatory and 
complementary. 
1.3. Neither one is by itself sufficient. 

'"The faculty of drawing is, therefore, as much 
innate in the child, in man, as is the faculty 
of speech and demands its development and 
cultivation as imperatively as the latter." 

XIII. "The drawing leads to number^the repeated return of one 

and the same object leads to counting." 
1.1. By development of the above is gained. 
_ 1.2. Extension of child's sphere of knowledge. 
2.2. A satisfaction of spirit. 
8.2. Adds very much to his life. 
2.1. Mother should develop it very early. 
3.1. Development of number — notions. 

1.2. Let child arrange objects in rows then count with him 
thus "one apple, another apple, still another apple ; 
many apples." 
4.1. Two rules for this first arithmetic, viz: 

1.2. At no time should the numerals be given the child as 
empty, unmeaning sounds and be thus repeated by 
him. 
2.2. Child should never say numerals, without the aid of 
objetcs which he actually counts. 

XIV. Wealth of the child's world. 

XV. Relation of child to father and mother. 
1.1. Should be allowed to "help" parents. 

1.2. Makes relationship stronger because he understands 

better. 
2.2. Gains a great deal of knowledge. 
3.2. "Do not harshly repel him." 

4.2. Show no impatience about his ever-recurring questions. 
2.1. Do not tell him in words much more than he could find him- 
self without your words. 
"To have found one-fourth of the answer by his own effort 
is of more value and importance to the child than it is 
to half hear and half understand it in the words of 
another ; for this causes mental indolence " 
3.1. Joy of child guidance. 
4.1. Development of industry. 

1.2. Lead children early to think. 

2.2. Give them early habits of work and industry. 

"The child who has been led to think will at the same 
time, be led to industry, diligence — to all domestic 
and civic virtues." 

XVI. Our own dullness. 



136 

1.1. We are empty for our children. 

2.1. Our surroundings are dead and dull. ■ 

3.1. Our speech is like the book out of which we learned it. 
4.1. Our discourse does not rest on intercourse with life and 
nature — we do not enjoy life. 

XVII. We should live with our children. 
1.1. We should learn from our children. 

XVIII. Importance of speech. 

1.1. Importance of inner unity. 

XIX. Misunderstandings from nearness of things. 

1.1 External separation often brings about inner unity, inner 
recognition or appreciation. 

2.1. Difficulty of self knowledge. 

"If man would know himself truly, he must represent him- 
self externally, must place himself over against him- 
self as it were." 

XX. The transition from childhood to boyhood. 



PART XII 



LESSON XIX 



of 



Home Study Course 



of 



Mothers Kindergarten School 



Copyright 1914 

MOTHERS KINDERGARTEN SCHOOL 
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI 



LESSON XIX 



EDUCATION OF MAN. 
The Boyhood of Man. 

I. Boyhood is the period in which instruction predominates. 

1. The period of infancy demands fostering care. 

2. The period of childhood demands training. 

3. The period of boyhood demands instruction. 

4. Definition of school. 

^'School means the conscious communication of knowledge 
for a definite purpose and definite inner connection." 

5. Object of the school. 

*To give firmness to the will, to quicken it, and to make it 
pure, strong, and enduring, in a life of pure humanity, is 
the chief concern of the school." 

II. The will. 

1. Definition. — 

"The will is the mental activity, ever consciously ^"oceeding 
from a definite point in a definite direction toward a defi- 
nite object, in harmony with the man's nature as a whole." 

2. The starting point. 

1. Should be energetic and sound. 

3. Requisites. 

1. The cultivation of boyhood rests wholly on that of child- 
hood. 

2. The activity and firmness of the will rest upon activity 

and firmness of the feelings of the heart. 

III. Importance of the family. 

1. What it does for child. 

"Family-life alone secures the development and cultivation 
of a good heart and of a thoughtful, gentle disposition in 
their full intensity and vigor, so incomparably important 
for every perid of growth, nay for the whole life of man." 

2. The child takes the life of his own family as a type of life. 

IV. Transition from play to work. 

1. Now does things for the sake of the result. 

2. Child's instinct of activity has in the boy become a for- 

mative instinct. 

3. At this stage he wants to represent what he sees. 

4. Desire to help parents is very marked. 

5. Danger of repulsion. 

1.1 Parents can destroy at one blow, at least for a long 
time this instinct of formative activity, if they repel 
child's help as useless, or even a hindrance. 

2.1. Child becomes fretful ^^nd dull. 



139 

3.1. The inner power is weakened. 

6. Parents should encourage child's help, even though it should 

involve some sacrifice. 
1. Should strengthen and develop instinct. 

7. The boy wants to try his strength in everything, so that it 

may increase. 

8. Child is very inquisitive at this stage. 

1. Every satisfactory answer opens a new world to him. 

9. Boy's love of difficulties. 

1. Seeks obstacles and difficulties in order to overcome 
them. 

2. Loves the work they involve. 

1. Exploration of caves and ravines. 

2. Climbing of trees and mountains. 

3. Searching of heights and depths. 

4. Roaming through fields and forests. 

3. Parents should give them freedom and not be anxious. 
**The boy, who from early youth has been led quietly 
and with reference to the steady development of his 
powers, never will test or task his strength much more 
than his previous trials justify. While another boy who 
knows neither his strength nor the difficulty of his 
task, attempts to do what his little skill and strength do 
do not warrant him to undertake and thus incurs dan- 
ger where even the most timid would deem himself safe. 

10. Desire to seek the new and discover the hidden. 

1.1. When boy returns with some rich treasure of animals 
— worms, beetles, or spiders and wishes to know the 
name, parents should beware of their greeting and not 
tell child to "throw that down!"; **that is horrid!" 

11. Love of water. 

12. Love of plastic material. 

1. Likes to control and master it. 

13. All boys should have gardens. 

1. Should cultivate them for the sake of the produce. 

2. Here man sees his work, for the first time, bearing fruit 
in an organic way. 

3. This work completes in many ways the boy's life with 

nature and satisfies his curiosity concerning her work- 
ings, and a desire that urges him again and again to 
give thoughtful, continuous attention and observation 
to plants and flowers." 
. 4. "If the boy cannot have the care of a little garden of his 
own, he should at least have a few plants in boxes or 
pots, ffiled not with rare and delicate or double plants, 
but with common plants that have an abundance of 
leaves and blossoms and thrive easily." 

14. Games of boyhood. 

1. Often are simply to display strength. 

2. "The sense of sure and reliable power, the sense of its 

increase fills the boy with joy during these games." 

5.2. "The child or boy who has guarded and cared for 



140 

another living thing, although it be of a lower order, 
will be led more easily to guard and foster his own 
life." 
3. It is not only the physical power that feeds and strength- 
ens in these games. Intellectual and moral power too 
is definitely and steadily gained and brought under con- 
trol. 

1.3. Justice. 

2.3. Moderation. 

3.3. Self-control. 

4.3. Truthfulness. 

5.3. Loyalty. 

6.3. Brotherly love. 

7.3. Strict impartiality. 

8.3. Courage. 

9.3. Perseverance. 

10.3. Resolution. 

11.3. Prudence. 

12.3. Elimination of indolent indulgence. 
4.2 Boy tries to see himself in his companions, to feel him- 
self in them, to weigh and measure himself by them, 
to know and find himself with their help. 
5.2. At no time should boys be unoccupied. 

15. Love of tales and stories. 

"There is developed in the boy at this age the desire and 
craving for tales, for legends, for all kinds of stories, and 
later on for historical accounts. This craving, especially in 
its first appearance is very intense. 

16. Love of the past. 

17. Love of song. 

1. Comes from desire to express what fills his innermost 
heart and mind and urges him to sing. 

18. The symbolism of play. 

V. Actual boy life very different from what it should be. 

1.2. We meet stubbomess etc. 

1.1. Causes of difference. 

1.2. The complete neglect of the development of certain 
sides of full human life. 

2.2. 'The early, faulty and unnatural steps of development 
and distortion of the originally good human powers and 
tendencies by arbitrary and willful interference with 
the original orderly and logical course of human de- 
velopment." 

VI. Man is essentially good. 

1. Has no bad or evil qualities or tendencies. 

VII. Falsehood. 

1. Nature. 

"If there is anything absolutely evil, it is this, for it is the 
origin of all evil." 

2. Origin. 

Man creates falsehood by failing to recognize himself as being 
created by God by truth. 



141 

3. All the short-comings and wrong doings have their origin 

merely in the disturbed relations of these two sides of man, 
his nature, that which he has grown to be; and his essence, 
his innermost being. 

4. How to overcome evil with good. 

1. Find the originally good source that has been repressed 
or misled and then foster it, build up and properly 
guide this good side. 

VIII. Sympathy. 

1.1. Lacking at present among children. 

1.2. Due clearly to the early annihilation of this feeling 
between parents and children. 

IX. Faults of boys. 

1. Source lies in precipitation, carelessness, frivolity, and 

thoughtlessness. 
1.1. "The boy and the wig." 
2.1. ''The boy and the bowl." 
3.1. 'The broken window." 
4.1. "The boy and the pigeon." 

2. How boys are made bad. 

It is generally some other human being, often the educator him- 
self that first makes the child or the boy bad. This is accomplished 
by attributing evil, — or at least wrong motives to all that the child 
or boy does from ignorance precipitation or even from a keen and 
praiseworthy sense of right and wrong. 

3. False Conversion. 

4. Ravages of harsh words. 

'Tunishm.ent, especially punishment by words, very oft'^n teach- 
es children or at least brings to their attention and notice, faults of 
which they were wholly free." 

X. Sins against childhood. 
XL Seeking unity. 

"As already indicated a deep and significant feeling of anticipa- 
tion and longing aspiration occupies the boy's mind in all he does 
during this period." 

HELPFUL SUGGESTIONS, 

Child two years old likes a crayon to play with better than a 
pencil because it is larger and makes a bigger mark. Let him have it. 

Let child trace leaf on paper or his hand. A certain amount of 
outline drawing is a good thing. 

Draw with child and for him and thus encourage him to draw 
all that he can. 

If child collects things and shows them to his mother he wants 
to share his pleasure with her and she should encourage him to make 
large collections and to systematize them and take care of them. 
Thus laying the foundation for natural history and other sciences. 

Child gets first idea of number work through drawing — putting 
four legs on a table or a house, etc. 

In kindergarten he counts other children, his chalk, blocks, 
games, finger plays, etc. 

Step before this is arranging things. 



142 

Children under six can seldom count over 18. Things then be- 
come a quantity — a blur. 

A child may be smart in everything else except number work, 
especially girls. 

Read 'The Militants" — In the Bishops Silence by Mary Shipman 
Andrews. 

Child cannot begin to have an abstract conception until he can 
speak. 

Beauty form work should be given very seldom and for only one 
period — younger children by imitation — older by dictation — they 
like working in symmetrical forms. A little of it is very valuable and 
interesting and helpful but it can easily be over done. Play a little 
puzzle game with it — ''Now watch and see what I'm going to make 
next" etc. 

Touch, in race development, is very primitive — very first to de- 
velop — all other senses probably grow out of it; sight is next, then 
taste and smell and finally hearing. 

Infancy ends and childhood begins when child begins self-active- 
ly to represent the internal outwardly. 

Do not try to teach child inhibition too early. 

Wonderful thing the way a child at end of first year can coordi- 
nate hand and eye muscles and the complexity of his movements. 

Do not refrain a child's activity for his future life grows out of 
it. 

Question is how to utilize activities in best way. 

Development of growth through activity is according to Froebel 
the kernel of psychology. 

By end of first six months child gets certain associations and 
learns to expect certain results from certain people; has a good deal 
more control of muscles ; coordination is much better ; has sense per- 
ception (most rapid of all advancement) ; has beginning of memory. 

Thorndike says "the infant's feelings of things, qualities, condi- 
tions, and relationships are nothing more than vague impressions of 
this person, that thing, that stomach-ache and the like. Only after 
many experiences does he come to feel the same qualities. 

We are too apt to judge a child or a person too quickly. We 
should see them under several conditions and in many lights before 
we judge them. Give environment that will call out all possible char- 
acteristics. 

Never get to a point where you cannot forgive a child. Forgive i 
him everything. j 

A child never forgets or forgives an unjust accusation. ' 

Shouldn't be rude to a child. He has as much individuality and ^ 
dignity as a grown person. 

Children often withdraw confidence from parents when laughed 
at. It hurts their pride. 

Child has all the suffering of an older person without the philo- 
sophy. He sees only in the present. 

Child should not be humiliated or ridiculed only in very rare in- 
stances. 

We seldom find a child who needs absolutely no discipline. He 
often has hereditary tendencies. 









143 

Very serious thing to mis-judge a little child. Your attitude to- 
ward him means so much to him. 

Give an antagonistic child more sympathy than any other for he 
is unsocial. Let him help you. Encourage him. 

Read R. Kiplings : ''Ba-Ba Blacksheep" in ''Wee Willie Winkie." 

To deal with *'sly" children be perfectly open and frank with 
them and lead child to think that you expect the same from him. A 
great deal can be done through suggestion. 

This sort of a child will often put blame on other children, tell 
falsehoods, try schemes to get what he wants if he thinks he is liable 
to be refused if he should ask. He will often conceal trivial things 
of no concern. 

A sneaking child is apt to be rather a sensitive child. A direct 
punishment is apt to make it worse for he is naturally afraid of it 
and it makes him more afraid. 

Every one has imitative instinct. Child gets basis of education 
through imitation. Through it he becomes conscious of his own 
powers, of his place in the world. It is -partly an effort to under- 
stand. 

A baby begins to imitate between four months and six months 
old. When you are sure that a baby deliberately imitates you are 
sure that he has developed will. Once in a while a baby will uncon- 
sciously imitate as moving his head in rhythm to something. 

Clapping hands. Peek-a-boo-wave good-bye are some things baby 
imitates. James says we are what we are to a very large extent, 
through imitation. 

Older children in kindergarten like to have a hard thing to do. 

Children who are imposed upon should be made to feel that such 
is the case. They should be encouraged to assert themselves and 
sometimes taught to hit back. We don't often meet such a child. 
When it is due to physical inability very little can be done. 

In the kindergarten w^e try to develop social instinct in the most 
fruitful ways. Seating children, working together, on circle, disci- 
pline all based in group games, programme work — all based on social 
instinct. 

Child is naturally affectionate if he is treated at all right. 

Attitude between kinder.orarten teacher and child should not be 
sentimental but respectful, affectionate and sympathetic. 

In kindergarten child has thing to make and if he can take it 
home, if it can be his very own, and if he can have some place to put 
his things, he will take much m.ore interest in them. 

Child will imitate you more than you have any conception of. 

Watch for unconscious imitation in children. 

Imitation will teach observation, new coordinations, and more 
power to express im.ages. 

Sending a child on errands. Consideration of his time — don't 
force him. — help to see that what he does for you he does for 
himself too. When there is friction it is generally because child is 
made to feel it is arbitrary instead of involuntary. 

Do not hold a child down too long. Father often makes mistakes 
by trying to hold boy down too long. Let him make his own decisions 
when he begins to grow out of childhood. Tell him your opinion, then 



144 

leave it to him. Child needs just this sort of thing. Can begin pretty 
early, even in kindergarten — let him choose colors, games, work, etc., 
and make him abide by first decision. It is the beginning of moral 
decision. Cause of so much friction between parent and child is be- 
cause child does not have enough "leave- way." 

Let child wear dress or hat or tie that he wants to. 

If child doesn't want to go to Sunday school, look into it, there 
is some reason. He should and must go — must get it into nervous 
system before he is twelve. 

Do not force child to do a thing that he abhors. 

Do not make everything too easy — difficulty makes it interesting. 
Problem is how to make our limitations a blessing. 

You do not inherit power that your father or mother have ac- 
quired along any line. You can inherit race tendencies or strong 
family characteristics but if your father is an artist you will not 
necessarily inherit it. 

Another theory is ''collection of reflexes handed down." 

Another one is that of organic selection — combination of rc-flex 
activity and primitive intelligence. 

Questions 

Instincts in general are for protection. 

What evidence have we of the relationship between mind and 
body? 

What is a fundamental nervous system? 

What is the function of the cerebrum. What are sensoiy, motor 
and association centers? 

What are visual, auditory, and motor aphasia? 

Why should auditory aphasia so often be accompanied by motor 
apahsia ? 

We should regard our work as teachers as assisting chiefly in 
what? according to James? 

Elxceptional Children. 

We generally find that a criminal man was a nervous or stupid 
child. 

Have child do things for other people if he is non-social, or 
nervous. 

Make him feel that he is part of the human family and that he 
is important. 

We are too apt to push adolescent boys into background — mak"* 
him feel awkward, and that he is not wanted. 

Child will grow out of ''smart-aleck" age — it is a sort of a ner- 
vousness, a feeling that they are nobody and must push themselves 
forward. 

Read Berry's "Little White Bird." 

Work on positive side of child. 

If you promise a child a thing he ought to have it. Do a thinT 
if you tell a child that you will. To say to a child's reauest ''I'll se-^ 
about it," developes the teasing habit. Say either "yes" or "no." 

Do not talk about a child in front of the child or so he can hea" 
— It gives child impression that mother is an enemy. 
I. Impulsive movements. 

The stimuli comes from within. Is due to change in organism 



145 

of nervous cells. Example — Twitching in sleep. 

II. Reflexive movements. 

Stimuli comes from without. Such as tickling foot. 

III. Instinctive movements. 

A timid child is generally very self-conscious — so is an aggres- 
sive bold child. 

Any one who is very sensitive is just selfish. This is truer of 
the adult than the child. 

Difference between emotion and instinct is that an emotion will 
react on you physically while an instinct as a rule does not. 

Motor accompaniments of anger are expression of face, clench- 
ing fist, hot words. 

Fear, anger, jealousy appear very early. Curiosity, play, sym- 
pathy, love, rivalry, emulation, pride, ambition, and cleanliness com 3 
later. The former are more related to emotions, the latter to in- 
stincts. 

Child has very strong social instinct. It can be easily destroyed 
or developed. He likes co-operation with others his own age. 

Cooperation means advancement. 

A baby's affection is very material being based on comforts, 
and the person who gives him most is the one he loves best. 

Child likes toys because they give him pleasure and because 
they are his, and because he ejects himself into them and makes 
them part of himself. 

Curiosity expresses itself in interest we take in things around 
us. Child's interests are very diversified and nearly everything ap- 
peals to him. Bright things, things he can play with and do with 
interest him most. Anything tha^" has activity or movement inter- 
est a child. Give him very few mechanical toys. 

If curiosity is abnormal, check it. It is not so much the ques- 
tion as the kind of child. 

Boys ask more questions than girls — due to racial conditions — 
men have been encouraged to be investigators for many genera- 
tions. 

Grown people make a mistake in not satisfying child's curiosity. 
Talk over sex-relations. 

Make appeal to curiosity through gifts. Say to child "what do 
you suppose is in this box." Shake it and see if you can hear it rat- 
tle? "Open it just a little way." Then let them play with the 
blocks until they get acquainted with them. 

Gaines When First on Game Circle. 

A good game for childre>\ yvhen they come on the game circle 
is to let them all be "something that is getting ready for winter." 
Some of them will be whirling leaves, seed-babies, caterpillars, 
squirrels, rabbits and farmers. 

Other exercises that are relaxing and invigorating: 

1. "Rocking Horse." 

2. "Jacks in Box." 

3. "Windmill." 

4. "See-saw." 

5. "Swinging songs with motion." 



146 

6. ''Bouncing balls." , 

7. "Short running marches." 

8. "Running Horses." 

Hints for Kindergarten Room. 

Take a large piece of dark green card board nearly square. , 
Draw bare trunks of trees (about three) with a few bare branches '' 
on them. Draw these on white cardboard and color them brown — 
make them in proportion, to the green cardboard on which you paste 
them. Let children cut out birds of various species (in proportion to 
trees and cardboard), then paste these on the branches. Make one 
with ten birds, use an oriole and his nest, a woodpecker, blue-bird, 
robin, thrush, blue- jay, etc. All in colors, they will appeal to the 
children. J 

Have a large dark green screen and pin on it pictures of children 
with their mother. 

After children are gathered around piano and just before they 
bejgin to sing open the window and have them take four deep breaths. 
The first time exhale and make a noise like engines. The second time 
make a noise like the wind and the third time perfectly silent. 

Then sing the scale up to these words "How do you like to go to 
school," and down to these words "We like to run and skip to school." 
r . Next sing some child's name the first syllable on lower "do" and 
the last on upper "do" as Ester. . ("do" "do") . .have child answer 
"yes.. I., am., here" to "do" (upper) "la", ."sol", ."do." 

Then sing "Little Jack Horner," etc., and when they finish sing 
oh . . oh . . oh . . oh . . oh . . oh . . oh . . to the scale. 

_o This is a splendid drill and yet it can be so interesting that 
the children will enjoy every bit of it. Have them stand during 
singing time around the piano and thus relieve the long sitting 
period on the circle. 

Have another one on other side of room and paste children 
with animals. Let the children bring the pictures. On the black- 
board, along one side of the room, and low enough for children to 
see, have a border about a foot deep of animals coming out of 
Noah's ark. 

At Christmas time draw with colored crayon a large Christmar. 
tree and put different colored toys on it. This is the thing nearest 
the hearts of the children yet the "three Wise Men" and other 
Christmas pictures often take the place of it. I think it should 
.b'^'in the room, on the blackboard somewhere. 
'' " Have a color chart — six columns. Let each child bring some 
ffiiit the color of each color in the rainbow and you draw it with 
colored crayon in the column in which it belongs — for instance, 
red apple in column for red fruit, etc. 

Have chart for ball, cylinder and rectangle shapes in three 
divisions. Draw a ball at top of one, cylinder at top of other, rect- 
angle at top of last. Let children bring a picture of something that 
will go in each column. 



147 



Grapes. 


Baking pow- 


Piano. 


Apples. 


der can — 


Auto. 




Bread. 


Box of 




Books to Use. 


candy. 



'Trimer," by Elenore Smith. 

Elliots, ''Mother Goose Songs." 

"Songs of the Child World — No. 1," by Riley and Gaynor. 

''Songs for Little Children — Part 1 — For the Kindergarten and 
Primary Schools," by Elenore Smith. 

"One and Twenty Songs," by Corinne Brown. 

"Goose Step March," by A. Gosling. 

"Dance of the Fairies," Polka. 

"Small Songs for Small Singers," by W. H. Nudlinger. 

"Songs of the Child world — No. 2," by Riley and Gaynor. 

"Song Stories for the Kindergarten," by Mildred Jane Patty S. 
Hill. 

"Finger Plays," by Emilie Paulson. 

"Dance of Brownies." 

"Popular Folk Games and Dances," by Mari R. Hafer. 

"Instrumental Characteristic Rythms — Part II," by C. S. Ander- 
son. 

"Mother Goose Songs for Little Ones," by Ethel Crawinshield. 

"Tilts and Lyrics — for the School Room," by Alice C. D. Riley 
and Jessie S. Gaynor. 

"Songs and Music of Froebels Mother Plays." 

"Small Songs for Small Singers," by W. H. Nudlinger, with 
pictures by W. Bobbett. 

"Songs and Games for Little Ones," by Gertrude Walker and 
Harriet S. Jenks. The Oliver Ditson Co., Boston. 

"Children's Old and New Singing Games," by Mari R. Hafer. 

"Brainard's Rythmical Movements, Marches, Skips, Etc. — for 
Home, School and Kindergarten." 



Skips. 



"Skipping Tag." 
"Skip by Turn." 
"Skip with Partner." 
"Skip to School by Nine." 
"Hippy Hop to Barber Shop." 



148 

Waltz Time. 

"Skating." 

''Swings." 

"Hammocks." 

"Swimming." 

"Slow March — % time — step on first beat." 

"Swinging Step." 

Other Steps. 
"Goose Step." 
"Twining Wreath." 

"Going Thru Gates — Morning Bows — Flower Song." 
"Heel-Toe Polka." 

"Run, Run, Run, Hop, one foot and other foot." 
"Shoemake Dance." 

"Two Step Skip with Partner — go sideways.' 
"How-d'y Do, My Partner." 



jf 



» 



PART XIII 



LESSONS XX AND XXI 



of 



Home Study Course 



of 



Mothers Kindergarten School 



Copyright 1914 

MOTHERS KINDERGARTEN SCHOOL 
KANSAS CITY. MISSOURI 



LESSON XX 



A YEARNS WORK IN NATURE STUDY IN TFIE KINDERGARTEN. 

We begin in the fall with the dog or cat family (usually the 
latter) because the children are familiar with them and interested 
in them. We take up their life and study it according to this outline. 

1. Animal, (cat, rabbit, dog, etc.) 

1. 2. Preservation of young through. 

1. 3. Protection. 

1. 4. Tending and making a safe shelter for their 

infancy. 

2. 4. Guarding from danger or harm. 

3. 4. Teaching them habits of self protection. 

2. 3. Constant care. 

1. 4. Cleaning. 

2. 4. Providing and giving food. 

3. 4. Teaching young to find their own food. 
Begin with animal life because it is active, (plant life is not 

and besides it is too different from child) because child's own or 
man's life is too near him — he can't see the whole thing and because 
it comes in between man life and plant life and just fits. Also be- 
cause it is familiar to most children because the common experiences 
make them better acquainted. 

Before long (two or three weeks) we begin the study of the seed, 
and we make a connection with animal life, comparing the family life 
of the plant and the animal. We make this connection stronger by 
calling them ''seed babies," and by making a very strong point of 
the protection and care of young by both plant and animal. Show 
how plant mother protects her baby and let the children feel the 
chestnut burrs and see protective colorings, bristles, etc. 

The means of dispersal is also a strong point, and right here 
we bring in about the farmer putting some away to provide for nextt 
years crop. 

We must put thought of life in the seed for we want the children i 
to feel the spark of life in every single seed. The mother put the 
spark of life there and it is ready to grow if it has the least chance. 
''Grow up just like the mother, for the mother put some of her own 
life in each little seed," etc. Think of how* much life she must have 
had to put some in each little seed. All this life in the seeds Godi 
gave to the mother plant and she gave to the seeds. 

Methods for Fall Work. 

1. Collection of seeds, (a seed chart is good). 

2. Seed stories, (Brown Seed Story is good). 



151 

3. Verses, (help to sum it up). 

4. Seeds that are brought in and classified. 

5. Get seeds out and look at them occasionally all winter. 

6. Planting seeds for Jack o'lantern and after Thanksgiving. 

7. "Squirrel's Surprise," is also a very good story. 

8. Notice buds in trees all winter from the time the leaves fall. 
At same time speak of roots down in the ground and how they are 
getting ready. 

We do not drop all of fall work when we take up Christmas 
work, but keep it in mind all winter long. 

We can never succeed if we wait until spring to plan our spring 
work. We must never forget from the first day and we must make 
every bit of fall work fit into spring work, even through the winter. 
This is very essential, and we should be able to pick up threads of 
fall in spring. 

A calendar will help the continuity of our nature work wonder- 
fully. Draw a picture of the fall season on the blackboard and then 
change it with the seasons to illustrate each. Every morning take 
just a few minutes to talk about the weather and to make a record 
on the calendar. For example if weather is sunny, paste a yellow 
circle on that day, etc. Here is the chance to keep in touch with 
nature work all year. If day is sunny, we can speak about how nice 
and warm the seeds must be, etc. 

January is the hardest month to plan for. But use work of frost, 
snow, formation of ice, winter birds, rabbits and other wild animals. 
Story of "Why Bear Sleeps All Winter" and "Raggylug." In Feb- 
ruary things begin to suggest themselves. Now we can begin to have 
a jar of buds sitting in the window, and to plant bulbs, etc., for Easter 
time. We begin seed planting soon after bringing in bulbs and buds. 

Now we come to the goal we started for in the fall. Last fall 
we told children of life in the seed and now we're going to show it 
to them. Let children plant seeds and plan definitely so they'll 
feel the push, force, and life of the seed. Let each table have its 
own pot or box. Bring them on circle every morning and appoint 
a child to water them and then talk about them. 

We make a point of comparison (nothing so good for observation) 
between buds in house and those out doors on the trees. 

We notice all signs of spring — change in character of wind — 
often rain, longer days, brighter sunshine, whiteness of cottonwood, 
redness of maple, guminess of cottonwood buds, sparrows gathering 
stuff for nests, return of early birds, first rain that brings up earth 
worms, etc. We can add to the picture on the calendar the first blade 
of grass or violet. We should keep just ahead of the season out of 
doors so children will commence to watch. Observation is largely 
a matter of cultivation. 

Then comes our return to family life. We take up work of 
classifying. We also take up different birds and learn their habits. 

One of last subjects in plant work and one that sums up the sub- 
ject is to bring in a blossom and show the formation of a seed — 
show how little cradle is formed there in the blossom (all that holds 



152 

the little life is there). We can also show the children the pollen on 
the stamen and how it helps to make the little seed and how it is 
waiting for it because it brings life. 

We should not allow children to pull flowers apart. Put it in 
a jar and let petals fall off — and watch the stamen dry up. The 
little seed receptacles will grow a little, enough at least to see how 
the little green fruit is forming. This completes the cycle of the 
seed. 

In spring in connection with '*Brown Seed Story" if we make a 
point of identity and seed it will help child to get the life idea. 
Let the child know that warmth and moisture are going to bring both 
to life; that seed is an egg and an egg is a seed. In each case the 
mother has put her own life into it and each life has it. 

We should dwell on the spiritual side of nature-work for it 
is one of the best means to make children feel and know God. Have 
cocoon in kindergarten and let children see butterflies and moths 
come out. Have an outdoor garden if possible. 

The thought of continuity and all that it implies should run 
through our nature work from September until June. By laying 
the right emphasis on the life that changes its form from lower to 
higher, we can bring out the resurrection beautifully. And we can 
make the feeling of it so strong in a child that he will never be 
able to get away from it. Right here in our nature work we can 
make the children feel the goodness, power and love of God so 
strongly that it will never pass — it will become a foundation. 

No matter how much work we put in nature study it is never 
wasted, for it is the foundation of many many things. 

Everything in our nature work depends upon interest aroused 
through imagination. It is certainly a wonderful thing to cultivate 
imagination and to lead a child to see invisible through visible. 

Spring Work. 

I. Seeds and Plants. 

1. Plant seeds in kindergarten. 

2. Let each have his own little box, if possible and plant 

his own seeds. 

3. Draw them at different stages in growth. 

4. Seeds may be planted in egg shell or sponge. 

5. Plant sweet peas — have window garden of peas, beans, 

lettuce and radishes. Watch growth. 

6. Plant some seeds in moistened saw dust or cotton to ob- 

serve germination. 

7. Make garden in sand bed (if there is one). And also 

with 6th gift. 

8. Plant grass seed in a sponge and watch development. 

II. Flowers. 

1. Tell about snow drop and crocuses. 

2. Bring in first weeds and become acquainted. 

3. Have plant potted in kindergarten. 



153 

4. Paper cutting of various flowers. 

5. Use rings to outline flowers. 

6. Draw or paint leaves and dandelions. 

7. Take a trip to green house — build with 5th gift. 

8. Take walks and bring back flowers. 

9. Make May baskets to hold wild flowers. 

10. Draw and paint Pussy Willow. 

11. Gather milk weed pods for refilling pillows in doll houses 
(if made during fall and winter). 

III. Twigs. 

1. Take from bushes and trees, put in water in kinder- 
garten to watch leaves gradually unfold. Draw at 
difterent stages of growth. 

IV. Elements. 

2. Rain, \^ind, sun and effects on all growing things. 

3. Draw picture of windy day, (kites, weather vanes, etc.) 

4. Build wind mill. 

5. Make pin wheels. 

6. Bring cocoons into kindergarten, watch, draw and model 
in clay. 

V. Animal. 

1. Have rabbits, turtles, and chickens as pets. Fish, snails, 
and tadpoles where children can observe and care 
for them. Model and draw them. 

2. Earth worms — observe out of doors after rain — bring 
to kindergarten in a box of earth and watch them. 
Observe castings and dig them up. 

3. Cut out and mount pictures. 

4. Make border of rabbits. At Easter time make posters 
of rabbits and chickens. 

5. If possible let children see a hive of bees. 

6. Observe ants. 

VI. Birds. 

1. Talk about their return northward in spring and nest 
building. 

2. Take children to see bird houses in parks, etc. 

3. Speak of most common birds and show colored pictures 
of them. 

4. Have a real bird's nest in the kindergarten and observe 
how it is made. 

5. Make clay nest and eggs and mother bird. 

6. Model bird (common one) in clay and paint it. 

7. Watch return of birds. 

Methods of Work. 

Our object is to get children to feel the relationship between 
ttheir lives and the life of plants and animals, thru the imagination. 



154 

We appeal from first to last in nature work in the kindergarten to 
the imagination, and if it isn't reached work is unsuccessful. 

We are striving to enlarge the child spiritually; to show the 
relation of life; to show the unity of all things; and to make him 
feel that he is one of God's creatures. 

The whole tendency of this nature work is to lead children to 
observe. 



LESSON XXI 



NATURE WORK— References. 



Birds. 



Chapman's (Little hand book). 
F. M. Bailey (Little hand book). 
Food of birds in relation to agriculture. 
Weed book — best on food. 
Dugmore on "Nesting Habits of Birds." 
Irene Wheelock — "Nestings of Forest and Marsh." 
O. F. Miller's (all good). 
John Burroughs' "Wake Robin." 

Blanchan's (both of them). ^ 

"The Robin Story" by Fannie Hardy Eckstorm (her book on 
woodpecker is the best of its kind published). 

Animals. 

"Wild life near Home," by Sharp (it is also called "A Watcher in 
the Woods"). (Good.) 

Ernest Seton Thompson's (all of his). 
Charles G. D. Roberts. 
William J. Long. 

Insects. 

"Moths and Butterflies," by Mary Dickerson. 

"Butterfly Books," by Scudder. 

"The Life of a Bee." 

The Bee People. 

The Margaret Marley Books. 

"The Fairyland of Science," by Arabella Buckley. 

John Burrough's book on bees. 

Clarence Weed's "Seed Books." 

Clarence Weed's "Insect Books." 

Trees. 

"A Guide to the Trees," by Alice Lousnburg. 
"Our Nature Trees," by Harriet Keeler. 
Ten New England Blossoms and their Insect Visitors," by Weed. 



<< 



Seeds. 

"Seed Dispersal," by Beale. 

"Seed Babies," by Margaret Morley. 



156 / 

STORY TELLING 
CLASSIFICATION IN OBSERVATION. 

Means of Impression. 

1. Tell them the story. 

2. Let them retell it. 

3. Tell own experiences. 

4. Dramatize story. 

5. Pictures and object itself if available. 

6. Real experiences with animal — cat or chicken, (in case you 
are studying animals instead of plants). 

7. Drawing from object. 

8. Modeling from object. 

9. Bringing in things after interest is aroused you can bring up 
characteristics of animals or plant, (for example, the cat's eyes, or 
turning of the sunflower). 

10. Talks. 

11. Classifying (in plant study). 

12. Walks. 

Means of Expression. 

1. Dramatization — games. 

2. Songs and rhymes — more expressive than impressive be- 
cause children haven't vocabulary and they feel things that they can't 
express only in these songs and rhymes. 

3. Occupation work. 

1. Free Drawing. 

2. Free Modeling. 
Expressing what they have learned. 

3. Sewing the pictures. 

4. Free cutting. 

5. Illustrative work with gifts. 

The following points are necessary to remember in carrying out 
nature programs: 

First Point: Mothers love. This can be expressed even in plant 
life by the cradles the mother makes for her baby seeds. 

Second Point: Things that will be of interest to the children. 

Third Point : How to go about it. 

Morris Reed No. II on "The Bag Worm." 



etc 



Stories in Connection with Nature Work. 

Seeds. 

"Little Brown Seed." 

^'Mother Apple Tree and Her Babies." 

"The Big Red Apple." 

"Milk-weed Babies." 

"Burr Babies." 

Animals. 

"The Lazy Young Squirrel." 






etc. 



157 

''Mr. and Mrs. Bushy Tail." 

"Susie's Dream. 

'Taliby Gray.' 

"Mrs. Chinchilla. 

''Raggylug." 

'Why the Bears Sleep all Winter." 

Birds. 

''Robin Stories." 

"The Nest of Many Colors." 

"The Storks." 

Caterpillar. 

"The Lesson in Faith." 

Other Stories. 

"The Little Chicken that Wouldn't Eat Gravel." 

"Mrs. Speckle." 

"Sleeping Beauty Story." 

"Story of Siegefried." 

"Prosperine" — (in Hawthorne's Wonder Book). 

"The Lamb With the Longest Tail." 

"The Wind's Work," by Maude Linsay. 

Verses. 

Seeds. 

The Pumpkin Seed, "A Fairy Seed I Planted, etc." 

Apple Seeds, "We've Lived in a House Red, Yellow and Round." 

Burr Brothers — "Close by the Side of the Road They Grew." 

The Apple is Good for a Number of Things. 

Little Milkweed Babies. 

Other Fall Work. 

"Jack Frost" — "Some One Has Been in the Garden," etc. 

"The Little Stream and Jack Frost." 

"The Pigeon," by Emile Paulson. "Stream was running at play," 

"Come Little Leaves." 

Winter Work. 

"The Roll of Bread." bv Maude Lindsay. 

"The Bowl of Milk," by Emile Paulson. 

Snow Flahe^ — "ilie Little Snow People are Hurrying Down," etc. 

"My Snowball." "I had a little snow-ball once," etc. 

'♦Snow"— "When the Little Honey Bees," etc. 

"If Snow Were Frosting." 

"Winter"— "When the Winds of Winter Beat," etc. 

Spring Work. 

"The Wind" — "I saw you toss the kites on high." 



158 

"Spring" — **I guess the pussy willows now." — Van Dykes. 

Pussy Willows — ''If I put you down by the fire," etc. 

''Ducks" — "When first the grass grows green in spring." 

"Little Brown Seed" — "In the warm earth deep, so deep," etc. 

"Waiting to Grow." 

"It is Spring" — "The wind blows, the sun shines, the birds sing 
loud." 

Pussy Willows — "Listen !" said a Pussy Willow. 

Pussy Willows — "Did you ever hear of pussies that never scratch 
nor mew?" 

"Buttercup" — What makes the buttercup so yellow? 

Buttercup — "Oh, you buttercup, yellow buttercup, shining, down 
there in," etc. ^ 

Dandelion — "Bright Little Dandelion, will you now show, whether ■ 
my child likes," etc. 

"The Woodpecker." 

The Rain — "Who likes the rain? I, said the duck." 

Rain— "What doss the rumbling thunder say?" 

Rain — "Sprinkle, sprinkle comes the rain." 

"The Brook" — Little brook, little brook, you have such a happy 
look." 

"What Do We Plant." "What do we plant when we plant the 
trees?" etc. 

Songs in Connection with Nature Work. 

Fall. 

"I Love Little Pussy," or 

"Kitty and Doggy." 

"Pigeon House." 

"Jack Frost is a Roguish Fellow." 

"One day as Mr. Squirrel went up the tree to bed." 

"Dancing and whirling the little leaves came." 

Mr. Duck and Mr. Turkey. 

Beside the Barn Yard's Open Gate. 

Winter. 

"The Snow— "Flakes are Falling." 
"Merry Little Snow Flakes." 
"Shoemaker — " 

Spring. 

"In the Sunny Southland." 

"Dainty Pussy Willows." 

Wind Song. 

"At Easter Time." 

"Oh, you buttercup, dainty buttercup," etc. 

"Crocuses and Tulips." 

"Frog Song." 

"Tit-tat-toe." 

"Pitter patter falls the rain." 



. 



159 

"Other rain songs." 

'The nest high up in the tree." 

GAMES. 
Fall. 

Dramatizing stories and 6ven songs and verses. Impersonating 
pumpkin rolHng, ducks, animals, gathering nuts and fruits; various 
things getting ready for winter; seeds; birds; especially pigeons 
and birds going soutfi; pitching hay and many other farmer in- 
dustries. 

Brownie Games. 

"Wind Mill." 



"Skating." 

"Jack Frost Games." 



Winter. 



Spring. 



"Swinging Games." 

Games, played to rhythm. 

Flower gardens (growth during soft music, swaying in breeze). 

Birds returning. 

Fairies. 



ii 



<ll 



PART XIV 



LESSON XXII 



of 



Home Study Course 



of 



Mothers Kindergarten School 



Copyright 1914 

MOTHERS KINDERGARTEN SCHOOL 
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI 



LESSON XXII 



ART. 

Drawing and Clay Modeling. 

First Year. 

Theory of color. ' 

Form. 

Principals of design. 

Water color. 

Simple mass drawing. 

Simple crayon and pencil. 

Simple animal. 

Simple tree. 

Simple blackboard. 

Second Year. 

Blackboard advanced. 

Perspective. 

Japan is the most appreciative nation of Art. They are nature 
lovers. 

Nature is the best source for color schemes. 

Leaves are the principal source of color schemes used in Japanese 
Prints. 
I. Space divisions are the commencement of design. 

1. Geometrical design is common but not pleasing. 

2. Variety. 

Study to appreciate (personal). 

Viewing. 

The child's point of view. 

Personal and professional view. 



\ 



Appreciation. 



Personal. 



Nature. 



Form. 
Color. 



Child's. 



Development of Handwork. 



Adapting art work to 
the child's needs. 



Tone graduations — light, dark. 
Space divisions. 



Ill 



163 

I. The Source of Color. 

The source of color is light. The rays of light which the 
color reflects determines its color. When we say an object 
is red, we mean it reflects the red rays of the sun, absorbing 
the others. 

II. Primary Colors. 

The primary colors or simple colors are red, yellow and 
blue. When the three are combined the neutral color gray 
is produced. 

III. Binary Colors. 

The binary, or secondary, or compound colors are orange, 
green and violet. They are made by mixing two of the primary 
colors together. 

1. Red and yellow — orange. 

2. Yellow and blue — green. 

3. Red and blue — purple. 

IV. Standard Colors. 

The primary colors and their hues, or the rainbow or 
normal colors are called the standard colors. They are: 

1. Red. 

2. Orange. 

3. Yellow. 

4. Green, 

5. Blue. 

6. Violet. . i 

V. Luminous or Warm Colors. 

These contain a quantity of red or yellow. 

VI. Non-Luminous or Cold Colors. 

These contain blue. 

VII. Colors in Full and Half Intensity. 

Colors are said to be in full intensity when they are fully 
charged with color, or as strong as they can be made. 

Colors are said to be in half intensity when they are not fully 
charged with color, or when they are mixed with gray. 
VTII. The neutral value of a color is its value when compared with 
the neutral scale or the scale of gray. 

IX. Color Values. 

Each color has a certain value of light or dark and in close 
relationship, a space value. Those colors which are the lightest 
or highest in value need not occupy so great a space to be 
noticeable as those lower in value. Their value is determined 
by their relation to the neutral value scale. Those above middle 
are high and those below are low in value. 

X. Complementary Colors. 

Those colors which contrast most strongly and enrich each 
other when combined are called complementary, as yellow and 
purple are complementary. 

XI. Color Rhythm. 
Comes from using adjacent colors or in least contrast. 

XII. Color Harmony. 
Comes from using complementary colors. 



■I 



164 

Color Properties. 

Each color has its own property, or effect on us. Color property 
is an interesting subject and has been worked out in relation to 
musical tones. 

1. Yellow is most allied to light and is therefore the brightest, 

gayest color. 

2. Violet is the darkest, most restful and quieting of colors. 

It is called the Royal color. 

3. Red is the most irritating and positive of colors. 

4. Green is the most soothing color. 

5. Orange is the warmest and most advancing of colors, as it 

is made of red and yellow. 

6. Blue is the coldest, most retiring and most spiritual of colors. 
XIIL A tint is a lighter color value than the color, less paint used 

or it is mixed with white. 

A shade is a color mixed with black. 

Color Schemes. 

How to use color. 

Use one color called a self -toned scheme or one mode color and 
that means one color spectrum in every color. 

Working with colors at full intensity is better to have a neutral 
background (gray). 

In working out a one mode color scheme it is better to have a 
neutral background. 

A related or analogous color scheme as: 

1. Yellow. 

2. Yellow Orange. 

3. Orange. 

4. Yellow-Green. 

In this combination yellow is the balancing color. Make the 
balancing tone more intense, the others light or half intensity. 

Pleasant color schemes are obtained by balancing two hues oni 
a binary. 

Complementary color schemes are best harmonized by keying 
— using some color to neutralize them. 
I. Adaption of Design to Form. 

1. The outside of the space decorated should be supported by 
the decoration. The enclosing elements of the space in- 
clude both lines and angles. Lines of the decoration par- 




alleling the outline serve to strengthen it as 

They strengthen the enclosing lines by aiding the eye to 

follow their movement, as 



ffl 



2. The angles of the space decorated should be supported by 
the decoration. In an upright design as the decoration on 



165 

the sides of a box. the upper part should be the nobler part 
to carry the eye upward. 
3. Growth points of the decorative should develop from points 
of force; every constructed form may be said to have var- 
ious points of force. These include angles, joints and ele- 
ments which hold the form together as hinges, locks, 
staples; the point from which a model hangs, upon which 
it stands or from which handles spring, form points of 
force. From these points decorated elements may properly 
arise. Lines which must border at right angles do not in- 
terfere with its movements, but those which meet or even 
approach it at an acute angle tend to lead the eye astray. 
They apparently cause the line to bend inward, thus weak- 
ening its structural force. 

II. The Decoration. 

1. The decoration of a constructive element should serve to 
explain its function. 

2. All points of construction, feet, legs, handles, should be 
decorated in order to strengthen them. 

III. Adaption of Design to Material. 

1. The character of the material should be expressed in the 
design. Every material has a character of its own, and it 
follows that that decoration is best suited to it which per- 
mits this character to be fully shown. 

2. Naturalistic elements must be conventionalized, before de- 
sign can be adapted to the material. To conventionalize 
a form is, so to arrange it that its appearance proclaims 
its pattern. It must be used in a decorative manner. 

IV. Adaption of Design to Function. 

1. The design must be appropriate to the form decorated. The 
decoration should assist in explaining the function or use 
of the form. 

2. The extent of the decoration should be conditioned on the 
decorative service of the design. 

3. The decoration of a form should make no undue plea for 
attention. Applied designs should be modest as well as 
simple and reserved. There is a decorative value in open 
spaces. 

by 

n- 

ir DRAWING. 



Second Year. 

DRAWING. 

Principles of Designs. 



I. Rhythm. 

1. Rhythm is relative movement. Examples: 

1. Outline of mountains. 

2. Waves, (used a great deal by Japanese in their designs). 

3. Wind blowing over fields of grain. 

4. Moving clouds. 

5. Flying birds. (Japanese use this beautifully across the 
moon or anywhere on a scene). 



166 

6. Indians used a serpent movement as ,^.^.^,^^^.,^.^^„^,^,^,,,^ , 

also zig-zig lightning. 
Notice rythmetic movement in a picture. 

2. Simple Rhythm. 

Simple rhythm is one form after another and this is 
monotonous. Example: | | | | | | | |- 

3. Alternative Rhythm or Varative. 

Alternative rhythm or varative is a long and short. 
Example: | | | | ! i | i- This corresponds with march 
time and is the beginning of beauty. It is also made m 
waltz time. Example: I I i | | i | | i | | i | 1 i- 
11. Balance. 

Balance is equipoise or adjustment of forces. Example: 

1. See-saw. 

2. Scales. 

Where there are two masses we place the larger one near the 

center and the smaller nearer the side so as to gain balance. 

1. Bi-symetrical arrangement is one form of balance as !|| 



or 



which is an irregular balance. 



III. Harmony. 

Harmony is having something in common. 

One form is having all lines coming from one center. 




This is not harmonious, but this is, as it has 

something in common. 
The coloring of the leaves and sunset are all illustrious of 
harmony. 

A gray day is another example. 

Rhythm, balance and harmony may all be worked out on the tree. 
Example: 

Branches illustrate rhythm. 

Coloring illustrates harmony; also radiation. 

Roots and branches illustrate balance. 
We get the harmony in radiation, that is the roots all come 
from one point, as well as the branches. 

We see these three principles every where in nature in every 
little detail. 

Points on Free Drawing, 

1st. General mass — that is height and breadth, marking off on 
paper necessary. 

1. a. Compare foliage to trunk. 

2. a. Compare breadth of foliage to height. 
2nd. Growth — Manner of branching. 

Srd. Characteristics of leaves and leafy masses. For instance a 
sycamore is splotchy in its foliage. 



167 

Use broad side of pencil for poplar tree and a vertical stroke. 
This is the tree of aspiration because so straight and 
tall. 

Use a horizontal stroke for sycamore. 

Use a long and slanting stroke for willow. Hard maple is 
more regular than soft maple and hasn't so many points 
and inundations. Arthur Rackham (a very famous 
tree artist in tree drawing) has illustrated Peter Pan 
beautifully. 



[ 



PART XV 



LESSONS XXIII AND XXIV 



df 



Home Study Course 



of 



Mothers Kindergarten School 



Copyright 1914 

MOTHERS KINDERGARTEN SCHOOL 
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI 



LESSON XXIII 



CLAY MODLING. 
Care af Clay. 

Clay comes in a powder. When you mix it, don't mix it all 
up — leave some on side to work into as in bread making. Get a 
heavy piece of ticking, empty powdered clay on smooth side (not' 
on fuzzy side). Keep out a cupful to work into it. Then draw bag 
together and lay into a pan of water. Watch it — don't let it lie there 
until it is like mud. Put a little water in pan and when clay has 
taken it in look at it and stir it and see how it is. 

Mix it thoroughly — keep hands out of it as much as possible — 
have two bags — work clay thru bags — just like you work bread. 

When you have worked it until it is the right consistency, 
wedge it by hitting it on table. This makes it more elastic. Cut up 
into loaves — put one loaf at a time in other bag and wedge it. 

If clay is too wet it can be dryed out by placing in a dry cloth 
and hitting on table — takes water out of it. When clay is springy, 
spongy, plastic and doesn't stick to fingers it is all right. 

Put it away at end of period all ready to use the next period. 

Wash clay cloth when you get through with it and lay it out 
to dry. 

Don't let children take clay into palms of hand, but keep it in 
finger tips. ^ 

At end of year, when you put clay away, pull it (clay) into littlew 
tiny pieces and don't pat them down. Put in clean jar and leave the 
lid off — don't put any water on it. Clay will mildew. 

Keep the jar clean all the time, once a month give it a thorough 
washing. 

If you have a child with sores on his hands never put a piece of 
his clay back in the jar — keep it aside for him. 

Have children wash hands before using clay and afterwards. 

After the first two or three lessons in perfectly free work in 
clay the following subjects are good to take up: 

1. "Here's a ball for baby." 

2. 'Three bears (get sizes and simple forms in this play) beds, 

bowls, chairs, tables." ^ 

3. **Baby Ray — apple, egg, pump, ducks and chickens." ■ 

4. "Kitchen forms — (what mother used to get breakfast ^' 

with)." 
Don't take any distinctive type forms the first three weeks. 
To work out forms of first and second gift is a very valuable 
thing and should follow along with them. 

When making the kitchen things it is great fun to use the large 



171 

second gift with it. Make a stove out of it and then place utensils 
on it. 

Plastecine is clay mixed with oil and is very nice for home use 
because it keeps the same consistency. 

Classify second gift. Have a cube family in one box, a cylinder 
family in another, and a spherical family in another, then as children 
find things on the way to school, or perhaps bring something from 
home put it in the box with the family it belongs with. 

Another way to classify this gift is as I've already described 
in my notes oh ''Hints gleaned from other kindergartens." 

Before modeling any one form of this gift it js well to go on a 
walk and watch out for things to make like the cube, or the cylinder 
or the sphere. For instance, barrels, candy jars, fruit jars, watering 
cans, pitchers, large boilers, etc., in the cylinder family. In the cube 
family there are chairs, pianos, stoves, dinner buckets, bureaus, 
house, trunk, and most all kinds of furniture and in the sphere there 
are all kinds of fruit and nuts. 

Be sure children have begun to make classifications mentally and 
are observing before you try to get results in classification in clay. 

Be particular about getting type forms. Don't be slovenly about 
it. Work out best way of giving type to children and then make 
pjay or work out of it, just as children are capable of. 

Repeat it as many times as they are interested in it. Work for 
a fuller expression each time. 

Cube is the hardest one of the forms. 

To make cylinder don't roll on table — roll in fingers — pat three 
times on each end — then roll very gently. Change this into rolling 
pin by pinching out the ends. 

Form or Observation Work. 

Here is where we begin to use the clay for impression. 

In this the teacher should make one first and thus work out 
her plan of giving it. 

Whatever you are going to model have the object right there 
before children and let them feel and handle it. 

To make it interesting play sense games. Let a few children 
leave room and then come back and guess. Put it under a cloth and 
let all the children feel it, and guess what it is, but each one keep 
finger on lips till asked in turn what he thinks it is. If it is some 
kind of fruit like the banana keep it hid but let them smell. Do 
this guessing work just before modeling object. 

Keep your m.odel in back-ground until they've examined the 
object thoroughly. Then show them the ''picture you .have made of 
it" and let them handle yours if they wish. 

We make the pumpkin about Thanksgiving time. Have children 
. work together when first making these forms. First all roll it in 
hands together until you get a ball. Then hit one side a few times on 
table to make it flat and a little bigger at the bottom like a pumpkin. 
Then press in with thumb at top and pinch up a stem. The stem is 
flat on all sides. To make grooves draw a line from top of pumpkin 
-to bottom — then take side of thumb which is a splendid tool to work 






172 



with and press it back on both sides, also covering up the scratch. 
Then do this on the opposite side, etc. 

Take the best pumpkins children have made and put them in the 
ball family box. To encourage and inspire for better work. 

Color yours and let them color theirs the next time if they are 
better. 

These little colored pumpkins make very nice paper weights 
for Christmas time. 

The pepper corns very naturally grow out of pumpkins because 
of their grooves. Let them make these freely and see if they re- 
member how they got the segments. 

Sphere Forms. i 

Apple. 

Pumpkin, (probably last thing made). 

Turnip, (very simple. Flat on top and clay carried to a point 

on other end). 
Beat is more perfect sphere. 
Onion — top can be suggested. 
Parsnip — all belong to cylinder family. 
Carrot. 
Sweet Potato — suggest eyes. 



LESSON XXIV 



POTTERY. 



There is no art except farming so widely spread throughout the 
whole human race as pottery and yet we do not know how, when, or 
where it originated. Perhaps the idea may have been formed by see- 
ing the impression of a foot in yielding clay, or by mending broken 
baskets with clay. Other theories are that the Indians lined their 
baskets with this material so they could parch corn, and they also 
overlaid the basket with it in order to place it over a fire and prob- 
ably, accidently, they found that if the basket was burned away they 
had an earthen vessel. It was through such intermediate steps that 
the earliest potters came to see that they could shape clay alone 
and burn it hard. The first clay-work was however, without doubt 
only sun dried and the discovery of the effect of fire on clay was 
surely accidental. 

In cooking we had the story told us of a house burning down 
and a roasted pig being found, tasted of, well liked, a discovery made, 
and a custom established and Binnes gives us an example or theory 
something like it for the discovery of pottery. A family, living in 
a mud or clay walled house may have been awakened in the middle 
of the night by the cry of ''fire," to find their household goods burned, 
but the walls still standing much better and of a new substance, 
apparently. However we are unable to say just when pottery was 
first invented for the Eskimos have used clay stoves for ages and 
the Greeks from time unknown have had clay bricks, then made 
vessel forms. In all rainless regions of the globe exist sun-dried 
adobe or bricks and these are the most primitive of clay pottery. 

It^was one of the greatest household inventions to make earthen 
pots to stand fire for boiling. It may not look a great stretch of 
invention but invention moved by slow steps in early culture and 
there are some facts which lead to the guess that even pots were 
not made all at once. A beginning having been made, however, 
nothing was easier than to improve it and so possibilities thus opened 
up were taken advantage of by degrees, and a tedious growth 
through slow accidental improvements led to the perfected art of 
today. 

In handling the clay the men no doubt found impressions of 
their hands and tools and so the thumb pressed work of the primi- 
tive ages began, and the step from this to forming a vessel was not 
great. In America and Africa at the present time, native women 
are still seen building up large and shapely jars or kettles from 
the clay. 

There are three methods of making clay vessels and we don't 



174 

know which one of the three is the oldest. Savage women nearly) 
all over the world, model vessels from the lump. The very earliest; 
and rudest act of clay working remains and is indeed valuable when 
we realize how difficult the beginners found the first attempt toi 
give shape, smoothness, and eveness to their vessels and to avoid; 
thick and thin spots. ] 

Molding pottery is the second method and a very common one. 
All over the United States bits of ware are picked up on whose sur- 
faces are deep furrows and nodes. Ninety-nine out of a hundred 
were made in nets or baskets or bags and have the marking on 
the outside. They also molded vessels by putting clay on the out- 
side of a gourd, shell or piece of wood. 

Coiling is the third method and suggest to the Indian, decoration. 
It is a kind of potter's wheel of slow velocity, only the hand travels- 
around and around instead of the clay. The potter rolled out long 
slender fillets or ropes of clay, varying in width and thickness to' 
suit the size and character of the vessel to be constructed. They 
were usually one-fourth to one-half inch thick. The potter began 
by taking the end of a single rope between fingers and proceeded to 
coil it up on itself, gradually forming a disc. At first the fillets 
overlapped only a little, but as the disc grew larger and was rounded 
upward to form the body of the vessel the imbrication became more 
pronounced. Strip after strip of the clay was added, the ends being 
carefully joined. The rim generally consisted of a broad strip, 
thickened at lip and somewhat recurved. In most cases all traces 
of the coils are to be obliterated either when clay is soft, by means 
of paddles of gourd, or shell, or wood, or they are rubbed away with 
fine grained polishing stones. 

In addition to smoothing, scraping and rubbing, the pottery of 
the Pueblos was acquainted with slip which was really very fine 
clay thinned with water and applied as a wash previously to deco- 
ration with color. 

There have been inventions and improvements upon these first 
few steps as is always the case, but the improvements and inventions 
are few when the age of the art is taken into consideration. In fact 
there have only been three inventions of very great importance and 
these are the potter's wheel, the kiln and glazing. 

Most of the first vessels were devoted to domestic use, as was so 
often the case with primitive man, but before long they wanted 
larger vessels and as the hands were not capable of holding unaided, 
pieces large enough to meet the demand, a table or wheel was con- 
structed by which the clay could be revolved as the potter guided 
the formation of its shape with his hand. This was an enormous 
advance and must have caused great astonishment. Yet this wheel 
was known in the world from high antiquity. It was first worked 
by hand, then the improvement on this was to work it from below 
by the foot and at the present day a laborer drives it with a wheel 
and band, but the principle is the same. As we watch this simple 
machine, so early bringing shape out of shapelessness, we can well 
understand how in the ancient world it seemed the very type of 



175 

creation, so that the Egyptians pictured one of their deities as a 
potter molding man on the wheel. 

The kiln is a completed invention of great importance. Jt is 

an oven so arranged as to give exceedingly even heat. The Indians of 
course had no kiln but they made a hole in the ground, put their pot- 
tery in it, covered it over with stones and made a big fire over these, 
thus baking it. They also make hollows in the trees and put pottery 
in them, making a fire around it. The most primitive was placing 
jar in hot coals on the ground, then covering it over with a big fire. 

Glazing is a substance put over pottery to fill up pores. It is a 
chemical combination of some kind of metal with clay and is applied 
after baking and is very difficult to do. So far as we know the 
Indians did not do this, but used "slip" to smooth surface and to 
fill up pores, also for decorating. 

There has always been decorating of pottery. Even the Indians 
traced or etched their vessels with any sort of pointed tool, and this 
form of decoration was so common that fragments which have not 
been so treated are hard to find. 

Nothing could be simpler than the first efforts at creation of 
decoration. The savages were like children, playing with putty or 
mud. They simply took a little sample material and working it into 
a familiar form, stuck it on the side of their vessels. 

Much of our knowledge of such nations as Etruscans and even 
Greeks is derived from the paintings on their vases. 

The Chinese pottery and porcelain of all ancient nations appeals 
to me the most, for they were first, and it must have been very 
difficult to develop so much. 

The Chinese Empire is rightly regarded as the great home of 
porcelain, which is the highest form of potter's art. Porcelain has 
three particular features; it is hard, white, and translucent, and* 
this substance, called Kaolin, had its origin in the Chinese Empire 
and from this fact is derived the name "China-ware." The time 
of its birth is a matter of conjecture, but is certainly prehistoric. 
Chinese legends state that the art was known prior to 2,000 years 
B. C, but this cannot be demonstrated. There is no doubt that the 
Chinese began to work clay much as other nations did, but before 
long Kaolin was discovered and thus the first important step taken. 
Very early in their ceramic history the Chinese began making 
colored glazes, sometimes laying the color under the glaze, some- 
times mingling it with the glaze itself. 

"One of the very early feats of these potters was the production 
of the crackled glaze which came to be regarded as a decorative 
feature. There is a great difference between this crackle and the 
crazeing which appears as a defect upon modern cheap earthen ware. 
Crackle depends upon the mutual relation between body and glaze 
and the marvel is that it was found possible to so adjust these re- 
lations by minute variations in composition as to produce a large 
or small crackle at will. The effect was often heightened by the 
addition of color to the crackled lines and it was usual in later times 
to add a design more or less elaborate." 

It was the Emperor Chi-tsong in 954 A. D. who issued the well 



176 

known command that the imperial porcelain should be of the color 
of the sky after raining, a tint, doubtless peculiar to the Chinese 
climate. This porcelain, named Tchai Yao, after the family name of 
the emperor was greatly valued, so much so that even broken bits 
were in after years set in gold for use as personal ornaments. 

Very soon the Chinese potters began to play tricks with their 
materials and as their skill increased they gave full play to their 
fanciful imaginations. The most remarkable series of successes are 
found in what are now known as single colors. These are very nu- 
merous and for each the Celestials found an appropriate and poetical 
name, such as ''the moonlight," ''the blue of the prune skin," "the 
violet of wild apples," "the red of the bean blossom" and "the 
liquid dawn." These single colors reached their height during the 
Sung dynasty from 960 to 1260 A. D. 

It was however, under the great Ming dynasty from 1368 to 1648 
that the manufacture of porcelain received its greatest impetus. The 
successive emporors seem to have warmly patronized the potter and 
of course this helped a great deal. The cobalt blue was developed and 
beautified, becoming so much of a feature in Chinese work that it 
was imitated by early European experimenters. 

During this period the famous Lang- Yao was m^ade and it had a 
rich glow of red. Many attempts to reproduce this particular tone 
have been made, but so far with but little success. The color is 
dependent upon the oxide of copper introduced in small proportion 
into the glaze. The Lang family were most successful in this par- 
ticular ware. 

The feature of the green family is a brilliant lustrous green 
enamel produced from oxide of copper. This is transparent, and 
allows the black tracing underneath, with which the details of the 
work are elaborated to be perfectly seen. Sometimes the black is 
used so extensively as to predominate over the green. The black is 
evidently a dense infusible paste becoming glazed by the green which 
entirely covers it. Sometimes the surface of the combined colors 
assumes a slight irridescence, giving rise to the term "ravens wing 
black." 

The rose family is distinguished by the lavish use of an opaque, 
rose-colored enamel which sometimes covers the backs of plates 
and is also the leading tone in the coloring of the design. The color 
was made from gold and it is not unlikely that the discovery of the 
tint originated the style. These qualities were lost in later years 
and the Tai-ping rebellion seems to have extinguished the last spark 
of excellence. China still makes large quantities of her wares, but 
their glory has departed. 

China undoubtedly led the way in porcelain as Greece in pottery. 
From her the knowledge spread and receiving in each new country 
a local character and definition, the clay-work was created which 
now reveals so much to the student. 



PART XVI 



LESSON XXV 



of 



Home Study Course 



of 



Mothers Kindergarten School 



Copyright 1914 

MOTHERS KINDERGARTEN SCHOOL 
KANSAS CITY. MISSOURI 



LESSON XXV 



PROGRAM FOR THREE WEEKS. 1 

INTRODUCTION. 

For the first month of school have general subject the Family 
Life and Mother Love. During the first week have no special sub- 
ject, but emphasize getting acquainted. We try to make the children 
feel at home, and we strive to give them the feeling that every- 
thing in the room is for them and that we are going to have a 
grand time. We talk about the families, homes, and mothers they 
have just left and emphasize their love and care for them. 

The first week I would introduce in table work : 

Stringing of beads, for lesson in ''doing." 

First gift — for lesson in color. 

Paper chains — for lesson in color and something to take home. 

Folding — lesson in folding. 

Design in Parquetry — lesson in pasting and design. 

Cutting on line. 

First Week.^No General Subject. 
Monday — No Special Subject. 

Have picture books and things on the table so children could 
look at them and get interested. 

There would be no circle nor table work the first day. Most of 
the time would be spent in getting acquainted and enrolling. 

Tuesday — Circle Work. 

Talk about room, pictures, chairs, etc. Emphasize sense of 
ownership — that everything is made to fit them and is for them. 
Then I would talk about the good time we are all going to have, etc. 

I would try a little tone work — "How-do-you do'* to do, la, sol, do. 
Also "who knows how to hippity hop" to the whole scale. Let those 
skip or do, and the others run. If the older children were there, I 
would let them skip and sing old songs while the new children 
listened. 

I would have a very simple story and one with which they are 
familiar. When telling it I would let the children come up close 
around me. 

Getting acquainted is the point to be emphasized these first two 
weeks and we might play a little ball game on the circle to further 
this end. 



, 



1 79 

No rhythm work. 

At end of circle show them how chairs must be carried back. 

Play Circle. 

Go out doors. Skip again. Drop the handkerchief or mulberry- 
bush. 

Table Work. 
First Period. 

String beads. Use only two or three colors. 

Second Period. 

First gift. This gives the children their first lesson in color. 
Have a little game, and make the play interesting. A fruit game 
would be well if the class of children are ready for it. Also have 
various little imitative plays that will bring in various movements. 
For instance "lets all have our balls pendulums in clocks, and this 
v/ill be a clock store or a shelf in a jewelers store where there are 
so many clocks going all at once," etc. Then have them as kittens, 
with the string for their tails, etc. 

When there were just two tables, I would alternate this work. 

Wednesday — Circle Work. 

Take time this morning to come on the circle to a simple march, 
in the right order. Do it twice if necessary. 

Have the same tone work as yesterday. ''How-do-you-do" and 
give ''Little Jack Horner" or some other Mother Goose melody to 
the scale. Test the voices for about ten minutes, but be sure it is 
playful. This is pigeons, and thru this subject we keep in touch 
with and develop our general subject. Here the child gets a phase 
of family life among the brids and it is invaluable to him. We have 
for table work: 

Second gift — curved and flat surfaces, etc. 

Sticks. 

Mass drawing. . 

Clay modeling. 

Baking day with second gift, (home day). 

Folding and parquetry. 

The special subject for the third week is the cat family. This 
gives the child a view of family life from three standpoints, his own, 
the bird, and the animal. In a way he feels the unity, and undoubt- 
edly he feels the love very strongly. Already his powers of observa- 
tion have been awakened, and his interest aroused. Already he has a 
broader conception of family life and love for he finds and sees it 
elsewhere than in his own home. This week we have in our table 
work : 

Built up work. 

Parquetry design. 

Sewing from one hole to the next on the comb case without 
lines. 



mmmmmi^ 



180 

Sewing on line. 

Mass drawing. 

Clay modeling. 

Second gift. 

Cutting on line and pasting. 

Drawing. 

Let different children say the rhymes they know. 

Repeat hop and skip. Don't force children, but have feeling that 
all are going to do it. Have them do it by tables. 

Re-tell story of yesterday, or tell a new one. Recall little talk 
of yesterday and add care of our hands — listening to signals, etc. 
— in friendly, not preachy way. 

Take time to leave circle correctly. 

Table Work — First Period. 

Make paper chains, using only three colors. Be careful about 
the pasting. This to give the children more color work, and their 
nrst lesson in pasting. Insist, or rather remind them that we are 
going to use just a little dew-drop of paste. These chains afford 
them something to take home, hence increases the interest. 

Play Period. 

Introduce little rolling or bouncing ball game, with big inflated 
ball. Call out names — ''Here it goes to John," ''no\y to Ruth," etc. — 
this helps to individualize children and get them acquainted. 

Have little circle color game, using flowers and match them to 
balls. 

Play pussy wants a corner, for backward children. 

Bounce ball and roll it, etc. 

Take time to make quite a point of the going home time. Let 
each child come in and go out alone and thus give him a personal 
good-bye. Shake hands with him. 

Thursday — ^Circle. 

Try clapping to 4-4 time for the first time. Then march on 
the circle to a little simple march. 

Have a little circle skip, first to right and then to left, then in 
three times. All join hands so all will be obliged to do it. 

Next bring chairs on circle. Have a little tone work. Say and. 
play "Happy Monday Morning," then skip it. 

Talk about the family, what mother does to get child ready for 
kindergarten, and what others in family do. I would let the children 
stand frequently so as not to get restless. Every time one said his 
mother did something tell all the others, whose mothers did the same 
to stand. 

In order to individualize children call roll and let them stand. 

I would have children do things in groups right from first, be- 
cause they will be more willing and more likely to do it. 

This morning I would introduce Baby Bunting. 

March off circle to a simple march. 



181 

Table Work — Both Periods. 

Fold Books — I would use the Manilla paper and have them a 
good size ; have a simple design on cover to bring in color work. Then 
we would fold some leaves out of different paper and pin them in. 

Play Circle. 

Mulberry bush. — "What mother does." 

Friday — Circle Work. 

Repeat clapping and circle skipping. ''How-do-you-do" and 
other scale work. 

Recall talk of -yesterday. 

Have Baby Bunting Song. 

Play Happy Friday Morning in groups. 

Tell ''Baby Ray" or some go to sleep story. 

Table Work. 

Both Periods and Both Tables. 
Cut out pictures first period and paste them in books they made 
yesterday, the second period. 

Game Circle. 

Ball Game — bouncing or rolling. 
Have little color games. 

Second Week- — Table 1. 

SPECIAL SUBJECT "PIGEONS." 

Monday— Circle Work. 

1. Morning Greetings. 

1. Good Morning to You. 

2. Verse. 

1. "Thumbs and Fingers say Good Morning." 

3. Prayer. 

1. "Father, We Thank Thee." 
4.' Story. 

Tell a Pigeon Story. (Have it in three parts so it may be 

continued for three days — something like the "Robin 

Story.") 
Talk about pigeons and let children who have had them as 

pets tell all they -can about them — bring out special 

points. 

1. Flying to music, as pigeons. 

2. Simple Skip. 

6. Verse. (Continued.) Two or three familiar Mother Goose 
Rhymes. 
Introduce first two or three verses of "The Pigeon," by Miss 
Blow. 



182 

7. Songs. 

''Rock-a-bye-Baby." 
''Kitty and Doggy." 

Table Work. 

1st Period.* 

Introduce second gift — emphasize curved and flat surfaces, cor- ; 
ners and edges — give scope for imagination — rolling pin, wheels, 
wagons, hammers, etc. 

Game Period. 

Drop the Handkerchief — *'I spy." 

Mulberry Bush. 
2nd Period. - 

Sticks — make Pigeon House, barn where Pigeon sometimes gets 
grain, trough out of which Pigeon drinks, etc. 

Tuesday — Circle Work. 

1. Morning Greetings. 

1. Good morning to you. 

2. Introduce "Good Morning Merry Sunshine." 

2. Verse. 

1. 'Thumbs and Fingers say Good Morning." 

3. Prayer. 

1. "Father, We Thank Thee." 

4. Story. 

1. Review part of Pigeon Story told yesterday and drama- 
tize it. Add more to it today and show pictures 
of Pigeons and Pigeon House. If possible bring 
one to Kindergarten so children may observe it 
more closely. 

5. Rhythm. 

1. Flying as Pigeons. 

2. Beating drums to time of music. 

3. Simple skip. 

6. Verse. 

Two Mother Goose (familiar) rhymes. 
1. Continue Miss Blow's Pigeon verses. 

7. Songs. 

1. Rock-a-bye-baby. 

2. Introduce "the Pigeon House." 

8. March — just plain march with few movements introduced to 

time of music. 

Table Work. 

1st Period. 

Drawing of apple (mass drawing). 



183 
Game Period. 



<<i 



'Mulberry Bush." 
"We love to go a-wondering." 

Drop the Handkerchief (or some game that is familiar). 
2nd Period. 

Model Pigeon's nest and eggs from clay. 

Wednesday — Circle Work. 

Same as previous two days. 

Finish Pigeon Story — review and dramatize it in full. 

Introduce "In My Hand a Ball I Hold" in the songs. 

Table Work. 

1st Period. 

Make kitten with rings then sew it on card. (It will take but 
a minute to outline it first with rings and will give the children a 
better idea). 

Game Period. 

Same as two previous days. Introduce "I put my left hand in," 
etc. 
2nd Period. 

Make Pigeon poster — cut out Pigeon house and bam. Also cut 
out little girl from fashion plates and mount all. 

Thursday — Circle Work. 

About the same. 

Dramatize Pigeon verses. 

Continue work on "Pigeon House" song. 

Introduce a new story — tell Baby Ray Story. 

In rhythm work introduce "The Rocking Horse." 

Table Work. 

1st Period. 

Play baking day with second gift and make clay dishes, etc. 
2nd Continued. 

Game Period. 

Same as previous — learning "I put my right hand in" better. 

Friday — Circle Work. 

1. Morning Greetings. 

1. Good Morning to you (tone work). 

2. Good Morning to Merry Sunshine. 

2. Verse. 

1. "Thumbs and Fingers Say Good Morning." 

3. Prayer. 

1. "Father, We Thank Thee." 

4. Story — Ask what story they would like to have told again 



184 

(they will only have a choice of about three) and then 
dramatize it. They like repetition so it will probably 
be "The Pigeon/' 

5. Rhythm. 

1. Flying to music as pigeons. 

2. Beating drums to time. 
8. ''Rocking Horse." 
4. Skipping tag. 

6. Verse. 

Pigeon verses — One or two familiar Mother Goose rhymes. 

7. Songs. 

1. Rock-a-bye-baby. 

2. Kitty and Doggy. 
8. Introduce Happy Monday Morning. 
4. "In My Hand a Ball I Hold.'' 

8. March. 

Very simple. . 

Table Work. i; 

1st Period. 

Folding and Parquetry — pocket book — simple design 

Game Period. 

Just the same as previous days. 
2nd Period. 

Children's choice. 

THIRD WEEK. 

General Subject— Home Life. 

Special Subject — The Cat. 

Monday — Circle Work. 

I. Morning Greetings. 

"Good Morning to You." 

"Good Morning Merry Sunshine." 

II. Verse. 
"Thumbs and Fingers Say Good Morning." 

III. Prayer. 
We are now ready to have music to our prayer so I would play 

it over softly at first while we all bowed our heads and listened then 
we would sing it. 

IV. Story- 
Show pictures of cats, then have a little talk about them. This 

is to introduce the subject. Next let all the children tell about their 
own cats and kittens, and tactfully emphasize the care for them. 

V. Rhythm — beating drums, rocking horse. 
1. Fly to music as pigeons ; have a simple skip ; introduce walk- 
ing very lightly and softly as the kitty does. 

VI. Verse. 



185 

1. Repeat pigeon verses learned last week and finish learning 
them. 

Two of three familiar Mother Goose Rhymes. 
VTI. Songs. 

Rock-a-bye-baby. Pigeon House. 

Kitty and Doggy. Jack Be Nimble. 

Say ''Here's a Ball for Baby." 

Introduce Pat-a-cake. 
Vni. March off circle (very simple march with no arm movements 

for then they don't march so well). 

Table Work. 

First Period — Built up work. 

Make the combcase — this is the third step toward the 16 in. sq. 
Second Period. 

Game Circle. 

"I put my right hand in." 
"We love to go a-wandering." 
■ ^'I spy." 
Tossing ball in air and letting child catch it on bounce as his 
name is called. 

Table Work. 

Second Period. 

Finish combcases, pasting on simple parquetry design, and sew- 
ing around edges. 

Tuesday — Circle Work. 

1. Morning Greetings, verse, prayer, same as yesterday. 

4. Story. 

Tell "Mrs. Chinchilla." 
Talk it over. 

5. Rhythm, same as yesterday. 

6. Verse — Finish and review pigeon verses. 

Introduce "Once There Was a Little Kitty." 

7. Songs. 

Same as yesterday. Introduce "I Love Little Kitty." 

8. March off circle to some march that has been played every 

day. Children should be thoroughly familiar with it 
and get the rhythm perfect before changing it. 

• Table Work. 

First Period. 

Sew "Mrs. Chinchilla" without the preliminary forming with the 
rings as we had last week. 

Game Period. 

Same as yesterday. Introduce a simple little kitten game. 
Second Period. 



186 

Draw **Mrs. Chinchilla" by mass drawing. First the ball for 
body, then smaller ball for head and finally the tail and ears. 

Wednesday — Circle Period. 

1, 2, 3, just the same as yesterday. Dramatize Mrs. Chinchilla. 
5. Rhythm — same. Songs same. 

Table Wark. 

First Period. 

Clay — Take no distinct type forms the first three weeks; have 
free play again this week; suggest that they make the Gingerbread 
Man, that we told them about the first week. 

Game Circle. 

Same as yesterday. Introduce rolling the ball on the count as 
one, two, three, roll over, come back to me; or some other simple 
ball game where control of the muscles is involved, or rhythm enters 
in slightly. 
Second Period. 

Second gift. As we emphasize the corners and edges, smooth 
and curved surfaces last week we would review it thiB week, and 
play wash-day with it. If this was thoroughly exhausted I would 
get some sticks and we would make hammers out of the cylinder. 

Thursday — Circle Work. 

1. Morning Greetings. 

Good morning to you. 

Good Morning Merry Sunshine. 

2. Verse. 

Thumbs and Fingers Say Good Morning. 

3. Prayer. 

'Tather, We Thank Thee." 

4. Story. 

Dramatize Mrs. Chinchilla again. In some cases tell an- 
other cat story as **Tabby Gray." 

5. Rhythm. 
Beating drums. 
Rocking horse. 

Fly to music as pigeons. 

Simple skip. 

Walking softly as pussy does. 

6. Verse. 

Repeat pigeon verse. Learn the rest of **Once There was 
a Little Kitty." 

7. Songs. 
Rock-a-bye-baby. 
Kitty and Doggy. 
Pat-a-cake. 
Pigeon House. 



187 

I Love Little Kitty. 
'There was a Crooked Man." 
Jack Be Nimble. 
8. March off circle. 

Table Work. 

First Period. 

Make a Kitten Poster. This involves cutting on the line and 
pasting. Draw in the back ground. 

Game Circle. 

"I put my right hand in." 

**We love to go a-wandering." 

"I spy." 

Tossing ball and calling name. 

Kitten game. 

Rolling the ball on the count. 

Bouncing the ball on the count. 



Table Wark. 



Second Period. 

Children's choice. 



Friday — Circle Work. 



Same as yesterday all the way through, except I would give xne 
children a choice of stories. 

Table Work. 

I'irst Period. 

Make a balloon man with rings. Then make a bunch of grapes 
with rings. 

Game Circle. 

Same as yesterday. 
Second Period. 

Make (draw) a very simple little landscape picture putting in 
just the sky and ground. Give this by direction as it is the first 
attempt. 

I have forgotten to say in my circle work that after the first 
week we would begin to classify color objects and would have a chart 
on the board for the purpose. 

Subject for the week is the toy shop because all children are 
particularly interested at the present time in tops, marbles and jump- 
ing ropes. As we already have the store made we will transform it 
into a toy store and make only the things to be found in a toy store. 
However, it was my idea this week to have the children first make 
their flower boxes and get their seeds planted and then take up the 
toy shop. 



IM I 



188 







• 


Monday. 


st Period. 






1. 


Subject — Flower Box 


• 


2. 


Material. 






1. 


Wood. 


« 




2. 


Hammer. 






3. 


Saw. 






4. 


Nails. 






5. 


Squares. 






6. 


Pencils. 





3. Presentation. 

Don't you think it would be splendid to make a flower box and 
make it just like a carpenter would, using the saw, hammer and 
nails? And if we make it nice enough and nail it well so the soil 
can't get out we will put some dirt in it and plant a seed and watch 
\vhat happens. We are not going to make one big flower box but ^ 
each is going to make his own and I'm sure a boy or girl who is five ll 
years old can use a saw and hammer without hurting themselves, 
and we will show the other children we can. 

I would have the long board sawed into three lengths so we 
could work in groups of three. After getting the children in the 
basement I would divide them into groups, give them each a square 
and each group one of the lengths of the board and also a pencil. 
Then each child would mark off on the board the length of his square 
and mark it heavily with a pencil. They would (the group) have to 
take turns and wait till the first one got his sawed off. While No. 

1 v/as marking and sawing No. 2 and 3 would have to hold the board 
for him, then he would help them. We would first get our 2 sides, 

2 ends and bottom all sawed before we commenced to nail, then we 
would put them together all at the same time. 
2nd Period. 

Subject — Continuation of first period with same material and 
presentation as in the above. 

Tuesday. 

1st. Period. 

1. Subject. 

Filiing the flower boxes with dirt and planting the seeds. 

2. Material. 2ii 

1. Flower boxes. 

2. Dirt. 

3. Seeds. 

4. Spades. 

3. Presentation. 
We all made our flower boxes so nicely yesterday that we can 

fill them with dirt this morning and plant our seed. We will each 
take a spade and go over to a lot (some vacant lot near the school) 
and get some dirt for our boxes and what kind of dirt do you think 
would be best? Will stones help the little tiny plant to push its way y^ 
to the top? Well then we shall have to be careful not to get any 
stones in our boxes. 



«'( 



189 

I would give each child a spade and we would go to some vacant 
lot nearby and fill our boxes, then I would have them dig 4 little 
holes about 1 inch and properly spaced and plant the seed. Nastur- 
stium would be the best I guess. 
2nd. Period. 

1. Subject. 

Marbles and tops for toy store. 

2. Material. 

Clay. 

3. Presentation. 

First of all I would tell the children this Friday to all bring 
their stores back Monday then when only half of the stores appeared 
I would say 'Well, we can't use our stores this morning because so 
many forgot and if anyone forgets tomorrow then they can't play with 
us." Consequently when Tuesday came I would hope to have all the 
stores and to commence to make things for it. 

I would say to the children "what store is it you see boys and 
girls about as big as we and a little bigger going into so much now? 
What do you see little boys playing on the sidewalk after they get 
home from school and what do you see little girls doing on the way 
to school? Shall we make a toy shop where you can buy all of these 
things? I think it would be lots of fun and this morning let's make 
the marbles and tops out of clay then we will lay them in the sun 
until tomorrow so they will dry out. 

Wednesday. 

1st. Period. 

1. Subject. 

Coloring marbles and tops. 

2. Material. 

Marbles and tops made yesterday. 

Paints. 

Brushes. 

Paint Clothes. 

3. Presentation. 

Do you ever see boys playing with white marbles? Well if all 
our marbles and tops are white do you think we will sell very many? 
ril tell you what we will do, we will color them, all the pretty colors 
we can. 
2nd. Period 

1. Subject. 

Making marble bags. 

2. Material. 

Muslin. 
Needles. 

Thread. ' 

String. 
8. Presentation. 

Well boys and girls what shall we make to keep our marbles in? 
You know it is hard for boys to carry them loose in their pockets. 
All right, we will make some marble bags. 

I would give each child a piece of muslin about 7 inches wide 



190 

and 4 inches long so they could double it over and only have t( 
make one seam. First, we would turn it down at the top and stitcl 
it, leaving a space about Yi in. wide through which we could run 
string — then we would make the seam down the side and across th( 
bottom. 

Thursday. 

1st. Period. 

1. Subject. 
Jumping ropes. 

2. Material. 

1. Heavy twine. 

2. Cylinder colored beads. 

3. Presentation. 
We would certainly have a queer toy shop if we didn't have any^/ 

jumping ropes, so let us make some this morning. 

I would then give each child about ten inches of this heavy 
twine, tell him to slip it through two colored cylinder beads and! 
push these beads to the center until they tied a knot at each end oft 
the string then push them back one to each knot, thus making a 
handle out of the beads. Let each make several if time allows. 
2nd. Period 

1. Subject. I 
Trading. 

2. Material. 

The toy shops and contents. 
Parquet circles for money. 

3. Presentation. 

Let us make a street this morning out of our toy shops and buy 
from each other. Perhaps the children at the third table would like 
to buy from us too. 

Friday. 

1st Period. 

1. Subject. 
Walk. 
2nd. Period. 

1. Subject. 
Picture of something we had seen on walk. 

2. Material. 

Paper. i 

Colored crayon. 

3. Presentation. 
We had such a splendid walk a little while ago and 1 am sure 

every one of us saw something on that walk that we would like to 
make a picture of and take home to show our mothers because the5A 
were not with us. 

I would let each child make what impressed him most. ' 

Tuesday. 

1st. Period. 

We would cut flower shapes out of the cutting paper and eachi 
child could choose the color he wanted and name the flower he would 



ti 



k 



191 

like to cut. Get a book with pictures of flowers in it from some seed 
company or from a florist's and then let them cut these out. 
2nd. Period. 

We would paste the flowers we had cut out on a piece of white 
paper and this would be our flower house window. 

Wednesday. 

1st. Period. 

We would play in the sand. Each child must bring, when he 
comes that morning, a flower or a little branch with some green 
buds on it. Then we would lay off a garden in the sand and I would 
give them some of the colored sticks to enclose their gardens with. 
They could place these sticks upright in the sand at about an inch 
apart and play that they are posts and that vines are fastened to 
each post. After they had their garden enclosed they could place in 
it the flowers and twigs they had brought. 
2nd. Period. 

They draw a garden and some flowers and trees as they look 
now with just the tiny little buds. (I would suggest the latter). 

Thursday. 

1st. and 2nd. Period. 

I would have them use the tools (saw, hammer) and sand 
paper and we would try to make a little shop where they sell flowers. 

Friday. 

1st. Period. 

We would use the sixth gift and make all the different kinds of 
flower stands we could think of. 
2nd. Period. 

We would play v/ith the clay and make flower pots. 

The work for the week w^ould be about Easter and the awaken- 
ing of nature and consequently the play would be entirely along that 
line. 

The flrst period Monday we use the fifth gift, making the flower 
houses (or conservatories) and the church; because people always 
decorate the church with flowers from the hot-house at Easter time. 
I think it would be well to direct the building of the hot-houses so 
they would be uniform. 

The second period we would m.ake the wagons to haul the flow- 
ers from the hot-house to the church. This we would do by folding 
the heavy manilla paper and using little brass headed fasteners to 
hold the wheels on. 

Subject for Week. 

The subject for the week is Springtime and everything we have 
or do will be connected in some way with spring. Plan a visit to 
some park or woods; construction of greenhouse out of 5th gift; 
free cutting of grass and garden flowers; clay modeling of robin; 
garden in sand; making of flower boxes; making a wagon which 
the men use to haul dirt in which they sprinkle over the lawns to 



Psychological View Point. 

It makes the image clearer, the impression stronger by means 
xpression. 



192 

make the soil richer so the grass will grow faster; and one period 
the childrens' choice. 

Grown Person's View Point. 

To a grown person they can see very clearly the gain by repeti- ] 
tion for a great deal of the work above is repetition. However thi/. 
is necessary to the child for it is only by this means that he will get 
a lasting impression, clearer images and more detail — consequently 
better expression. Observation is the first lesson the child will get 
out of the above work, in fact, I think it is the most important lesson. 
Next he will learn to express himself better through his hands for 
by making w^hat he has seen and his images will be clearer. He 
will learn that Springtime is the time when the grass begins to get 
green, when the flowers bloom, when the bushes and trees have little 
tiny green buds and when the birds return. By repeatedly calling his 
attention to the awakening of everything he soon learns to associate 
it with springtime. 

Child's View Point. 

To the child all this is play for he likes to do it. He is intensely 
interested and he is seeing things for the first time, he never saw 
before. The grass and flowers are beautiful — everything to him is 
pretty and he is perfectly willing and wants to make something just 
like it. He is utterly unconscious of learning anything. He is only 
conscious of beautiful new things all around him which he wants 
to see, to handle, and to make. 

Psychological View Point. 

the imj 
of expression. 



PROGRAM. 
Monday. 

• - - 

1st. Period. 
r 1. Subject. 

Take a trip to some park or woods and observe greenhouses, 
trees, bushes, grass, flowers, worms and birds. 

2. Material. 

Given above. 

3. Presentation. 

I would tell the children what we were going to do and tell them 
to keep their eyes open. The very first one to see a robin or a worm 
must tell me and I will tell the others and we will try to see just how 
much we can see while we are gone. 
2nd. Period. 

1. Subject. 

Greenhouses. 

2. Material. 

Fifth Gift blocks. 

3. Presentation. 



193 

Now boys and girls do you remember the greenhouses we saw a 
little while ago ? Well, let us build them out of blocks and see who 
can get theirs to look the most like the ones we saw this morning. 
I am sure that we are all big enough to remember how they looked 
and to make ours just like them. 

Tuesday. 

1st. Period. 

1. Subject. 

Free cutting and crayon work. 

2. Material. 

White drawing paper, colored crayon, paste and scissors, 
and scissors. 

3. Presentation. 

Let us make a picture this morning that we can take home and 
hang in our own rooms and let us put some flowers and grass in it 
like we saw yesterday. How would you like to make the grass ? Like 
we did for our Easter Poster ? And what color flowers shall we have 
in this picture. I think red and yellow would be very pretty too. 
2nd. Period. 

1. Subject. 

Clay — modeling. 

2. Material. 

Clay, cloth and picture of robin. 

3. Presentation. 

How many have seen a robin this spring? How many would 
know the picture of one if I were to show you one? Well, we will 
just see. Here is a picture of some kind of a bird, can you tell me 
what? Yes, it is a robin and we are going to make a robin in clay, 
and make him to look just as real as we can. 

Wednesday. 

1st. Period. 

1. Subject. 

Garden in Sand. 

2. Material. 

Sand, twigs and flowers. 

3. Presentation. 

Well, how many brought the twigs and flowers for their gardens 
that I told you to bring yesterday and let's see if anyone forgot. It 
would be a queer garden without any bushes, trees or flowers in it, 
wouldn't it? I was afraid that someone who wasn't listening very 
quietly yesterday would forget and so I brought some extra. Now 
we will all commence to make our gardens and we will make them 
pretty, as they look now in the spring. 
2nd. Period. 

1. Subject. 
Wagon. 

2. Material. 

Manilla paper and brass headed fastenel*s, and paste and 
scissors. 

3. Presentation. 



194 

Have you noticed in the parks or on any one's lawn some loose 
dirt lying sprinkled over the grass? Did any of you see the wagon 
that the man hauls this dirt in which he puts on the grass? Do you 
know why he does it? Yes, he does it to make the soil richer and 
the grass grow faster. We made a garden a little whi\e ago in the 
sand and I believe things would grow faster in our garden if we had 
some of this fresh soil hauled and laid on it, so let's make a wagon 
to haul our dirt in. - 

Thursday. 

1st Period. 

1. Subject. 
Flower Box. 

2. Material. 

Wood, saws, hammers, nails, squares, pencils and sand paper. 

3. Presentation. 

Do you remember the flower boxes you saw over in the green 
houses and do you remember the little plants we saw growing up out 
of them? Don't you think it would be lots of fun to make one of i 
those boxes and put some dirt in it when we got it done, then plant ^ 
something and watch it grow ? All right, we will each make a box j 
and we will be careful of the tools and not hurt ourselves. 
2nd Period. 

Continuation. 

Friday. 

1st Period. 

1. Subject. 

1. Filling llower boxes and planting seed. 

2. Material. 

1. Dirt, seeds. 

3. Presentation. 
We made our flower boxes so nicely yesterday and let us fill them 

with dirt today and plant our seed. 
2nd Period. 

1. Children's choice. 



.i 



■'i 



PART XVII 



LESSON XXVI 



oiE 



Home Study Course 



of 



Mothers Kindergarten School 



Copyright 1914 

MOTHERS KINDERGARTEN SCHOOL 
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI 



m 



LESSON XXVI 



HISTORY OF EDUCATION. 

Pestalozzi. 

1746-1827. 

Lack of practical ability like Rousseau. 

Brought up by mother and old nurse — father died — too much 
feminine discipline — too sentimental. 

Very early influenced by Rousseau. 

Put in prison because of publications on reformation. 

Tried being a minister, lawyer, civil worker — gave all up. 

Married a wealthy girl and went to live on a farm at Mendroff. J 
Farming unsuccessful. 

Started school for peasant children and for his own son. Chil- 
dren were a little above the peasant class. He opened his farm to 
them — (quite a lot of them) — for five years — object was to teach 
them education and some way to earn their own living. This under- 
taking was quite characteristic of Pestalozzi — finally had to give up 
school. 

He continued to live on farm for eighteen years most of the 
time exceedingly poor. 

Best known book of Pestalozzi's is "Leonard and Gertrude" — 
only thing he ever wrote that was of any value. Also wrote "Even- 
ing House of a Hermit." The importance of home training is em- ^ 
phasized in "Leonard and Gertrude." ^[ 

After these eighteen years he made up his mind to try teaching 
"no more remarkable testimony concerning the value and validity of 
his fundamental educational ideas can be found than that this man 
who did not begin to teach until after fifty years of age and who 
from the practical point of view failed in every enterprise he under- 
took in his long life should after all have had more influence than 
any other one person in the educational improvement of the nine- 
teenth century." 

He began teaching by taking charge of an orphan asylum at 
Stanz on Lake Lucerne — 100 children in it — he kept school going for 
six months — was everything to children — mother, father, nurse and 
cook — health broke. 

After he recovered he was given an assistantship to a school 
master at Burgdoroff. Had private school of his own and was very 
successful at Burgdoroff. 

Asked to take his school away for political reasons after a while 
and went to Yberdun. Here for a good many years — school became ' 
very famous. Children began to suffer by being shown off so much. 

1 



i 



mi 



199 

Finally Pestalozzi gave whole thing up and went back to Mendoff 
where he died. 

He was very homely and very untidy — very awkward and large — 
shoes always unlaced — had little education — says himself that he 
never looked in a book for thirty years — yet he was the founder of 
m-odern primary education. He had no personal charm — was first and 
foremost always interested in method work — was always with little 
children. 

JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU-=-1712 1780. 

Rousseau was born in Geneva and like all Genevans was a theo- 
logian. 

Converted one hungry day by a bottle of wine, a full meal and 
the hospitality of a priest, he changed his religion and allowed this 
chance incident to shape his life for years. 

A man governed wholly by his emotions possessing the highest 
ideals with the greatest power of embodying them in words, but the 
slightest ability to realize them in action, with clear insight, un- 
bounded sympathy, little accurate knowledge and less of disciplined 
power of mind, he gave an impetus to ideas held and expressed by 
many others that made him one of the most powerful factors in all 
history. 

He caused a more complete revolution in educal;ional thought 
than any one man or group of men that we have to consider. 

He it was who first preached the political and social gospel of 
the common man and gave to him an education as a right of birth. 

The only permanent and elevating interest he seemed to possess 
throup*hout this period as well as the only activity in which he pos- 
sessed any ability was music. As performer and as composer, if not 
as teacher, he possessed considerable talent. 

When about forty he became possessed with the idea of ''The 
Natural State" and that "Human rights, happiness and human wel- 
fare are the natural of every individual, not the special possession 
of a favored class." 

Rousseau in his worst moments was ''lying, faithless, slander- 
ous, thievish, indecent, cruel, cowardly, selfish." His life was entire- 
ly spontaneous, simple, happy, contented and earnest. 

Rousseau believed that "the first education should be purely 
negative. It should consist, not in teaching the principles of virtue 
or truth, but in guarding the heart against vice, and the mind against 
error." 

With him the entire education of the child was to come from the 
free development of his own nature, his own powers, his own natural 
inclinations. His will was not to be thwarted. 

He says "The only habit which the child should be allowed to 
form is to contract no habit whatever." 

"Whatever may happen, abandon everything rather than have 
the child's tasks become irksome; for how much he learns is of no 
account, but only that he does nothing against his will." 

"Form no habits ! !" 

That education is a natural, not an artificial process; that it is 



200 

a development from within not an accretion from without; that it 
comes thru the working of natural instincts and interests and not 
tnru response to external force; that it is an expansion of natural 
powers, not an acquisition of information; that it is life itself, not 
a preparation for a future state remote in interests and characteris- 
tics of the life of childhood — these ideas constitute the fundamental 
teachings of Rousseau. 

He believed in punishment that came thru natural consequences. 
For instance, if a child break a window, let him sit in the cold; if 
he disobeys and gets wet, let him have a cold and remain in the house ; 
if he overeats let him be sick; so far as concerns opposition from in- 
dividuals, he should be opposed by no will of man, by no human au- 
thority. Rousseau was inconsistent here for he had taught that dur- 
ing the period w^herein this doctrine is to be most thoroughly applied, 
the child does not reason. 

He believed that education should be negative and that moral'' 
education should be by natural consequences. 

John Frederick Herbart. 

1776-1841. 

Passing through the traditional educational course of the gym- 
nasium and university, he gave evidence of ability and originality at 
every point. 

At the age of twenty-one he left the University for a three 
year's experience as private tutor, from which he formulated much 
of his educational doctrine. He returned later to study and then to 
give instruction in philosophy and in education in the University of 
Gottingen. Here and at the University of Konigsberg he spent the 
remainder of his life. At the latter place he established his peda- 
gogical seminary with a practice school attached, the forerunner of 
the university type of instruction and experimentation in the subject 
of education. 

His life for the most part was spent in investigation, lecturing, 
and publication. 

His psychology is his great contribution to education. 

The fundamental point is that he established educational work 
upon the basis of a unified mental life and development. 

Herbart's educational doctrines are thus founded upon the as- 
similative function of the mind — apperception. (Apperception is the 
assimilation of ideas by means of ideas already acquired.) 

**The word interest stands in general for that kind of mental 
activity which it is the business of instruction to incite." 'The 
teacher must know something of the child's previous knowledge and 
interests in order to utilize them." 

Pestalozzi, Herbart, Froebel — all made moral character the end 
of education. Pestalozzi would secure it rather by external means — 
thru direct training in moral virtues — and by the distinct though 
simultaneous training of ''head, heart and hand." Herbart sought 
the same end through instruction, for ideas stimulated desires, de- 



201 

sires action and action properly guided by ideas gained from inter- 
course produced character. To Froebel education was more largely 
an emotional and volitional than an intellectual training. 

Herbert Spencer. 
1820-1903. 

Spencer was the first and most influential of the school of or- 
ganization of the natural sciences. 

The fundamental characteristic of his work was the importance 
of the selection of subject of study as the vital theory in education. 

It has been said that he overestimated the value of knowledge as 
a preparation. Others claim that education is life, and not prepar- 
ation. 

Spencer says: "This preparation for complete living consists, 
first, in the acquisition of knowledge that is best adapted for the 
development of individual and social life; and secondly, in the de- 
velopment of the power to use this knowledge. Knowledge which 
leads directly to self-preservation, such as the sciences of physiology, 
hygiene, physics, and chemistry is of first importance. Knowledge 
which leads indirectly to self-preservation through the sciences and 
arts relating to the securing of food, clothing, and shelter comes next. 
Third in order of importance is the knowledge of rearing of off- 
spring, which in strange contrast with the attention given to the 
breeding of animals and the training required of a builder of bridges, 
or a maker of shoes is wholly neglected. On the other hand, any 
parent or teacher is presumed to be capable of bringing up a child 
without any preparation. Fourth in order is the knowledge of social 
and political life such as shall make one an intelligent citizen and 
neighbor. Last of all comes the knowledge of literature, art, aes- 
thetics, including foreign languages and literature, which since oc- 
cupying the leisure of life should also occupy the leisure of educa- 
tion." 

Thus the natural sciences demanded by the first three needs take 
precedence over the social sciences demanded by the fourth need and 
over the ^'liberal or culture" subjects, at that time the basis of all 
school work. 

It is said that Spencer sacrifices that which is higher in life — 
in its culture — for that which is lower — its practical advantage. 

It will be seen that the one great contribution of Spencer was to 
re-emphasize the three points first defined by Bacon, and to state 
these in terms of modern science and of modern educational thought, 
and to put the arguments in a form that would appeal to the nine- 
teenth century thought. 

Spencer has been called a representative of sociological tendency. 
It is his views concerning the curriculum and especially the social 
sciences, as well as those concerning the dissemination of this new 
education among the masses instead of among the limited favored 
classes, that he reveals his sociological learning. 



202 

HISTORY OF EDUCATION. 
Test. 

1. Give leading points in his (Herbert Spencer) educational 
theory. 

2. Contrast Pestalozzi both with Herbert and Froebel. 

Of these three whose influence is most evident in educational 
theory and practice today? How does this influence 
show itself? 

3. When and where did Rousseau live? Give brief character- 
ization. Give an outline of his leading ideas. Why were 
they so influential? 

4. Explain what Monroe means when he says that Rousseau 
may be classed as having the psychological, scientific, and 
sociological tendencies in modern education. 

5. Give a brief sketch of Pestalozzi's life and character and 
influence. 

6. Give leading points in his theory of education. 

7. Give as clear a statement as possible of Herbart^s educa- 
tional theory. 

8. Give leading events in Froebel's life a characterization. 



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